Pensioners born in these years are being urged to add to their pension now (Image: Getty)
Millions of state pensioners are rapidly running out of time to boost their by as much as £78,000.
A deadline for buying missing years has been set for April 6, 2025.
Under current rules, need to have at least 35 years of records in order to qualify for a full payout.
The , about £230 a week from April 2025, is not automatically given out at its maximum potential value but is based on whether you have a full record or not.
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But this April, 13 years which are currently available to buy from to add to your records will be closed off.
It means that anyone missing up to 13 years of records will not be able to boost their pension payouts for those years if they miss the deadline.
According to financial experts Shipleys LLP: “Back in April 2016, the introduction of the new stipulated that people had to have 35 qualifying years on their National Insurance record to gain a full .
“People can easily miss these National Insurance (NI) years, for example when experiencing periods of low income, taking a career break or caring for children, or those whose self-employed earnings haven’t required them to pay class 2 National Insurance.
“For those who may have missing NI years between 2006 and 2016 there is a time limit to plug any gaps. This is particularly important for older individuals who may not have the opportunity to plug any gaps naturally by future working.
“From 6 April 2025, the number of extra years you can purchase reduces to just the last six tax years.
“Until 5 April 2025, the cost of buying voluntary NI contributions is around £824 per missing year (although 2020/21 and 2021/22 are slightly less). Buying a NI year at £824 adds up to £302 per year (£5.82 per week) to your pre-tax .
“From 6 April 2025, the cost to buy a missing year is £923.00. Remember, also from that point, people won’t be able to make voluntary NI contributions for the years before 2019/20.”
If you bought one year back, it would cost £824 but add £302 a year to your pension payouts, says LLP.
If you did this for all 13 years, and then lived another 20 years, you would be paid £78,520 more in your pension than if you missed the deadline.
According to Martin Lewis’ MSE, this is particularly important for anyone aged between about 43 and 70, so born before 1982 or 1981 and 1952.
They said: “There is a potentially unbeatable opportunity everyone aged 40 to 73(ish) needs to consider. You’ve got until 5 April 2025 to buy back any missing National Insurance years from 2006 to 2016.
“This can prove very lucrative, as some are on course to make over £50,000 in boosts to their by following this guide.”