Thousands of Brits were blocked from topping up their state pensions before the deadline this week, potentially costing them a significant boost in retirement funds. People aged between 40 and 73 rushed to plug gaps in their National Insurance (NI) history before the April 5 deadline, allowing claims related to pay-outs dating back to 2006 to hit the 35-year mark for full pension benefits.
The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website saw around 21,000 hopeful users on Saturday, all aiming to secure valuable NI credits through employment or benefits. However, the online system to register payable NI shortfalls between 2006/7 and 2020/21 shut down early, preventing people from completing their contributions. HMRC acknowledged the mistake and assured MSE that those affected would be contacted individually to fix potential losses.
An HMRC spokesperson apologised for the inconvenience faced by customers as online services faltered on Saturday.
They said: “We’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.”
Now, voluntary NI contributions can only cover the last six tax years, up to 2019/20.
There was also the option of indicating their interest in volunteering NI contributions via an online callback request form provided by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) – due by April 5.
The Government previously announced that if the callback form was completed before the deadline, people would still be able to make top-up payments after April 5, so “no one misses out”.
According to HMRC data, approximately 120,000 people have used the digital top-up service since its launch in April 2024 to address over 260,000 years’ worth of NI gaps.
MSE reported that patching NI gaps could increase current and future state pensions by tens of thousands of pounds.
