Martin Lewis issues £79,000 warning to state pensioners born in these years

The BBC Sounds and ITV star Mr Lewis says time is running out for state pensioners born in these years who could be missing out on as much as £79,300.

Martin Lewis has issued a £79,000 warning to state pensioners born in certain years. The BBC Sounds and ITV star Mr Lewis says time is running out for state pensioners born in these years who could be missing out on as much as £79,300.

The Money Saving Expert founder explained how people need to fill contributions on National Insurance to boost their state pensions. Buying missing years in your NI record could boost money thanks to a HMRC policy which allows you to boost pots £6,100.

If you live to an average lifespan, that could be as much as £79,000 extra in your pension pot. MSE said: "There is a potentially unbeatable opportunity everyone aged 40 to 73(ish) needs to consider. You've got until April 5, 2025 to buy back any missing national insurance years from 2006 to 2016.

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"This can be prove very lucrative, as some are on course to make over £50,000 in boosts to their state pension by following this guide. This is for men born after 5 April 1951 (currently aged up to 73) and women born after 5 April 1953 (currently up to 71). Born earlier? You're on the old state pension, so this doesn't apply.

"Normally you can buy back up to six years, but when the 'new' state pension was introduced, transitional arrangements were put in place to let you plug gaps all the way back to 2006." Martin told viewerspreviously: "If you have gaps between 2006 and 2018, you need to think about this this year because you can only do it until next April.

"If you're nearly at the state pension age it's easy to see, it's pretty obvious that you should be buying them. The older you are, the more likely you should be [buying them. If there are no gaps after 2019, then you could still buy those so you could wait and see.

"You need a minimum 10 years to get a state pension so a warning here. If you've only got three years, and you've got three years missing, there's no point buying those three years because you'll still only be on six years and you still won't get the state pension."

Mr Lewis said: "If however you're on nine years and you can buy a year, suddenly you'll have 10/35ths of your pension and it will be massively lucrative, worth £3,000 a year for £800. So if you've got very limited years it could either be very lucrative or not lucrative."