Martin Lewis has issued an urgent pension warning to millions of Britons about National Insurance credits worth £10,000s – but you must act before April 5 deadline
Financial guru Martin Lewis has issued an urgent appeal for people to examine one vital detail – which could boost their pensions by more than £10,000. The money -saving expert declared that anyone aged between 40 and 73 must take immediate action, cautioning that failure to do so by 5 April will mean the ‘door shuts forever’.
Writing on X, he previously declared: “Pls share. If someone hasn’t checked this yet and is between the age of 40 and 73. Without exaggeration it could be worth £10,000s, so check. If you miss it now the door shuts forever on 5 April.”
In a fresh update on the Money Saving Expert website, it confirmed the opportunity applies to men born after 5 April 1951 (currently aged up to 74) and women born after 5 April 1953 (currently up to 72). Those born earlier are on the old State Pension, so this doesn’t apply, it added.
Mr Lewis disclosed last year on his ITV show that roughly 200,000 people had the ‘wrong’ individual claiming child benefit – indicating they could have missed out on years of National Insurance contributions, potentially leading to a diminished state pension. To qualify for the full new State Pension (£230.25 per week in 2025/26), an individual typically requires 35 qualifying National Insurance (NI) years.
A minimum of 10 years is necessary to receive any state pension. If you have gaps or fewer than 35 years, you can make voluntary contributions to increase the amount, reports the Mirror.
Each year, the years people can claim advance by a year, meaning a 12-month period which people could have ‘topped up’ disappears.
During the programme, a pensioner shared his extraordinary success story of boosting his pension by £32,000 after heeding advice from the financial expert. Viewer Gabriel had discovered a significant error with child benefit claims that had affected his National Insurance credits and, consequently, his pension.
Co-host Jeanette Kwakye read out Gabriel’s message: “Gabriel’s been in touch. After watching your show about pensions, I realised I have about 14 years of shortfall. I asked for my wife’s child benefit, national insurance credits to be transferred to my name, and I received 11 years of credit increasing my pension by over 60 pounds a week.”
Gabriel commented: “If I live 10 years after pension age, I’ll get an extra £32,000. So thank you so much.”
Mr Lewis then suggested the financial gain could potentially be even larger if Gabriel lives longer, explaining: ” Of course, typical life expectancy once you take your pension is double that, so it could be 60 grand”.
He also highlighted a broader issue, noting: “There are, I believe, 200,000 people in the country who had the wrong parent claim child benefit. Because what happens is if you’re working, you get national insurance credits that go towards your pension. And if you’re looking after a child, you also get national insurance pen credits.
“But if you have one working parent and one non-working parent, and the working parent is the one who claims child benefit, then they’re already getting it from working. So they don’t need it from childcare. And the other one isn’t getting so that transfer will be that he was earning less than the threshold to get national insurance credits. She was earning over it. He should have been claiming he wasn’t so they’ve transferred it. £32,000. 200,000 people in that situation. It’s worth looking at that. That is brilliant.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.