DWP handing out 'bumper' state pension payments worth £1,193 'on average'

The Department for Work and Pensions is urging state pensioners to act NOW to check whether they can boost their payments. As the deadline to top up voluntary National Insurance Contributions approaches, it has emerged thousands of state pensioners are taking action.

HMRC says 10,000 payments totalling £12.5 million have been made via the new digital service to enhance individuals' State Pensions since its inception last year. You have until 5 April 2025 to make voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the tax years between 6 April 2006 and 5 April 2018, the DWP says.

The average payment made is £1.193 (with some seeing weekly pension increases of up to £107.44). Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, said: "People typically need at least 10 qualifying years of NI (national insurance) contributions to receive any state pension at all and at least 35 years to receive the full new State Pension - though they don't need to be consecutive years."

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She added: "Plugging gaps can be quite an expensive process, so it is important to assess whether you actually need to buy back any missing years. This will depend on how many more years you plan to work and whether you are eligible for NI tax credits, which fill the gaps, such as those who have been sick, were unemployed or took time out to raise a family or care for elderly relations."

She said: "Plugging gaps in your record is relatively straightforward since the Government rolled out its new NI payments services in April last year - a State Pension forecast tool that has been checked by 3.7m since its launch.

"People simply need to log into their personal tax account or the HMRC app to not only view any payment gaps, but also check if they can plug those gaps directly through the Government's digital channels."

"A short survey assesses the person's suitability to pay online, with those eligible to pay directly given a series of options to plug any gaps depending on when someone wants to stop working. Calculating whether to top up can be confusing, though, and ultimately there is no point paying for more years than you need because you won't get that money back," Ms Haine explained.

She added: "People who might need to top up include those that took a career break as well as low earners or expatriates living and working abroad. Remember, this deadline has been extended a couple of times in the past, which makes it more likely the Government will stick to the April cut-off point this time around. For this reason, those that think they might need to take action should start the process now."