Pensioners facing a looming deadline to boost to their State Pension (Image: Getty)
Pensioners facing a looming deadline to add thousands of pounds to their may still be able to after the April cut-off.
A deadline of April 5 has been set for people to fill in gaps on their (NI) record going back as far as April 2006, potentially topping up their pensions by thousands.
From April 6 onwards, people will only be able to make NI voluntary contributions for the previous six years, in line with normal time limits.
If you’re already a pensioner you need to call the Pension Service to arrange to pay missing NI years, but if you’re not a pensioner you need to call the Department for Work and Pension’s () Future Pension Service. With the deadline so close, the phone lines may be busy so you may be at risk of missing the deadline.
To mitigate the risk, you can request a call back with an online form. The has confirmed that anyone who buys missing NI years using a call back will still be able to buy all 13 years – even if the call back takes place after the deadline has already passed.
The form has been placed on the gov.uk website for those who are struggling to contact the by phone to pay voluntary NI contributions. The will then contact the person on the phone number given to discuss payment.
The gov.uk website says: “If you submit a request by the 5 April 2025 deadline, you will still be able to pay voluntary national insurance contributions after the deadline has passed.”
The is not automatically paid at the maximum rate, which is currently about £221.20 per week if you get the full new . Instead, your eligibility for pension payouts is based on the number of NI ‘qualifying years’ and you need about 35 full years to qualify for the full pension amount.
If you’re missing some NI years on your record, which can happen if you took a career break, started work later in life, or didn’t work enough hours, for example, then you can choose to buy these missing years back.
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It costs around £824 to buy a full year, but this can add thousands of pounds to your pension by boosting your payments. Financial experts Shipleys LLP says if you bought one year back, it would cost £824 – but this would add £302 a year to your pension payouts.
Currently, it’s possible to buy back 13 years but after April 5 this option will be closed, so this is the last chance to buy back any missing years between 2006 and 2016. From April 6 onwards, the number of extra years you can buy will reduce to just six.
A government spokesperson added: “Our new online tool will mean that savers will be able to make top-up payments after the April 5 deadline, provided they complete the call back request form ahead of that date. This will enable us to ensure no one misses out, and to suitably manage demand as the deadline approaches.
“We also encourage people under age to check whether it is beneficial for them to pay voluntary national insurance contributions by using our online checker.”