Martin Lewis has issued an urgent appeal to anyone aged 40 to 73. (Image: ITVX)
Money Expert Martin Lewis is urging anyone aged between 40 and 73 to watch his new episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 tonight to see how they could boost their pension by tens of thousands of pounds before an urgent deadline. The money guru is set to broadcast a new episode of his regular financial advice show tonight at 8pm. In the hour-long broadcast, he will address the looming deadline to buy back the missing National Insurance years.
Under current rules, pensioners must have at least 35 years of National Insurance records 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. 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 National Insurance records cannot boost their pension payouts for those years if they miss the deadline.
Previously, people who have managed to boost their records have written into Martin’s show to thank him for the tip after they have added mind-boggling amounts of £50,000 or more to their pension.
Martin posted on X today: “Pls help me spread word: tonight 8pm ITV I’ll talk you through how to check if you can boost your by possibly £10,000s. There’s an urgent deadline coming after which many lose the opportunity.
“It’s a must-watch for anyone age 40 to 73 (some under 40s can gain too).”
As Martin will explain on his show tonight, buying back a missing National Insurance year – which could be missing if you took time off work, were ill or went abroad – costs about £800 but can add £300 a year to your pension payout calculations. If you lived even an average life expectancy, that could be as much as £70,000 or more paid out to you on top of your normal pension payouts if you bought back all 13 missing years before the deadline passes.
This week, the confirmed it had given applicants extra time to apply by adding a ‘request a callback’ form to its website. That means if you can’t get through to the Pension Service (if you’re a pensioner now) or the Future Pensions Service (if you haven’t retired yet), you could still buy back years after the deadline has passed if they call you back later.
Unrelated to that, Martin warned his viewers that he may sound a little different to normal. He added: “PS When you watch tonight, expect the Barry White of MoneySaving.
“Nothing to do with my love music… just the fact I lost my voice yesterday and while its back today its about an octave deeper than normal! I will try vocal warm up before to see if it helps.”