{"id":673,"date":"2025-04-11T16:22:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharosstory.com\/?p=673"},"modified":"2025-05-02T02:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T02:35:09","slug":"martin-lewis-reveals-thousands-are-entitled-to-10000-pension-top-up-after-hmrc-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharosstory.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/martin-lewis-reveals-thousands-are-entitled-to-10000-pension-top-up-after-hmrc-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Lewis reveals thousands are entitled to \u00a310,000 pension top-up after HMRC error"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Martin\t<\/div>
You might not have missed out on thousands just yet (Picture: Getty\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Martin Lewis<\/a>\u2019 Money Saving Expert (MSE) recently warned millions of Brits to take action on what he said was \u2018the single most lucrative thing you can do with your money<\/a>’.<\/p>\n

According to the finance guru, this lucrative thing was a simple check<\/a> of your national insurance record to see if you had any gaps.<\/p>\n

If you did, you could boost your retirement fund<\/a> by buying back missing years, with many people under the age of 73 able to add upwards of \u00a310,000 to their state pension<\/a> pot by doing so.<\/p>\n

The deadline for topping up your state pension in this way was April 5, however the expert has since revealed that millions are still entitled to the top-up, following a HRMC<\/a> error.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Senior\t<\/div>
Those who encountered the error and are eligible will be contacted by HMRC (Picture: Getty Images\/Johner RF)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ahead of the deadline many people reported that they were unable to use the HMRC\u2019s online service and thus couldn’t complete the form in time. <\/p>\n

Around 21,000 people who were eligible for a top up missed out on the deadline as the form was mistakenly taken down a day early. However, HMRC says they are able to identify all the customers who attempted to use the service on Saturday, April 5.<\/p>\n

As such, they plan to contact all of those who were affected by the error and are entitled to top up to make sure that they don\u2019t miss out on the money.<\/p>\n

A HMRC spokesperson said: \u2018We’re sorry that customers were unable to use our online service on Saturday to top up National Insurance contributions for years prior to 2021. We will contact anyone affected directly about the payments they wanted to make to ensure they don’t miss out.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not currently clear how they will contact people, or how long it will take for people to be notified.<\/p>\n

However, the pros over at Money Saving Expert<\/a> (MSE) have urged people to hang on to any proof they took when encountering problems on the HMRC site, such as screenshots, and if they don\u2019t hear anything they can \u2018try to contact HMRC [themselves] via its various NI channels\u2019.<\/p>\n

If you managed to submit the form before the deadline, you won\u2019t be impacted by this issue.<\/p>\n

How to boost your pension<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to MSE, buying back missing years in your national insurance record could massively boost your pension.<\/p>\n

Your state pension is determined by how many years you have paid national insurance (NI). As a general rule, you need about 35 years to get the maximum amount, which is currently set at \u00a3221.20 a week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, some people may have gaps in their NI record for a variety of reasons:<\/p>\n