HM Revenue & Customs has extended the deadline for paying voluntary national insurance (NI) contributions to top up state pension entitlement.
The government originally had April 5 as a deadline for people to pay back historic years of NI contributions - anything more than the standard six year deadline, all the way back to 2006/07.
This had already been extended to July 31, following capacity problems on government helplines.
However, many people had reported continuing problems in getting through either to DWP’s Future Pension Centre or to HMRC’s payment line, with less than seven weeks to the revised deadline.
In an update yesterday (June 13), the government announced a further major extension to April 5, 2025 – two years beyond the deadline originally planned.
The intention is that this will spread the load of calls and give time for more staff to be trained to cope with the high level of interest.
Steve Webb, partner at LCP, said: “I am delighted that the government has announced a major extension to the deadline for paying voluntary NI to top up state pensions.
“This is a complex area with great potential for people to improve their position but also the risk that they may get things wrong.
“It is essential that people can talk through their options with the DWP before making any payments, and this has simply been impossible for too many people because of lack of phone capacity.”
Webb said this significant extension should give time to train up enough people to handle the volume of calls that are now being made and enable everyone to take advantage of this opportunity if it is right for them.
As things stand, although individuals can go on the government website for a run-down on their NI record, including costs of filling different gap years, that website does not specify which years a person should fill, and even includes prices for years which the individual should not fill because it would not boost their state pension.
Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at Royal London, said it was “good news.”
She said ahead of the original deadline of April 5 this year, the DWP Future Pension Centre received over half a million calls a month, 10 times the normal amount it would get, showing the need and appetite of people to act and address a gap or find out more to ensure they don’t miss out.
“Filling in any gaps in your NI record by paying for voluntary NI can be money very well spent, but not everyone with an incomplete NI record will benefit by doing so, which is why it’s so important to speak to someone at the Future Pension Centre first,” she said.
Likewise Dean Butler, managing director for retail at Standard Life, said: “This little-known opportunity to increase people’s state pension payouts received a surge of interest in recent months, as many people scrambled to see if they could benefit, but it also left many worried they wouldn’t have time to complete their application by the original deadline.
“This is therefore a sensible extension, giving people adequate time to assess whether it’s worth topping up their contributions.”
On April 6, 2016, the government introduced the new state pension which means anyone who reached the pension age since then, has been put on the new state pension.
Under normal rules, you can only fill gaps in your NI record from the last six years but if you reached or will reach state pension age after April 6, 2016, you currently have the chance to plug gaps in your NI record going back to 2006.
“Paying voluntary national Insurance contributions could make a massive difference to your future,” Butler said.
“Based on the 2022/23 rates, buying a full NI year could boost your state pension by £275.08 a year.
“If you start claiming at 66 and live for another 20 years, you’ll have topped up your state pension by around £5,500.”
Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said the government’s latest decision should come as a relief to many who have been desperately trying to make NI top ups but have been “stumped by reports of long call wait times”.
“This will hopefully help avoid any further log jams for the government and more people can take advantage of what can be a very valuable bit of retirement planning,” Greer said.
“Ultimately, this represents a golden opportunity and people should not squander it.”
A Freedom of Information request by Quilter revealed that over the past two decades, more than four million individuals have made these advantageous Class 3 NICs.
“With this deadline extension, we hope that even more people will benefit from this opportunity,” he said.
“On average, approximately 193,000 people annually have made these top-ups from the 2000/01 tax year to the 2020/21 tax year.
“The extended deadline will particularly impact those aged between 45 and 70 with gaps in their NI records and these individuals should take action to check whether they can maximise their retirement benefits if they can afford to.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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