Martin Lewis says DWP and HMRC change could give people aged 45 to 70 extra £30,000

Martin Lewis has shared an update to those aged 45 to 70 as a new Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) and HMRC tool could give them extra £30,000. The DWP and HM Revenue & Customs are rolling out a long-awaited online service to simplify the process of topping up National Insurance Contributions for Britons.

This newly launched online platform is designed to enable individuals to identify and rectify any potential gaps in their National Insurance (NI) record, to ensure they receive the full amount of the state pension, the departments say.

BBC and ITV star Mr Lewis said: "Finally the govt has launched its long-promised online tool for topping up your state pension NI years... though not everyone can use it. I'll be talking you through in detail how to do it in the weekly MSE email tomorrow."

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To get the full new state pension, you currently need 35 "qualifying" years of National Insurance contributions and need at least 10 years to get anything at all. A top-up for a missed qualifying year currently costs £824 and boosts your pre-tax annual state pension entitlement by £302.

Depending on how many years you need to plug, Money Saving Expert founder Mr Lewis says you could potentially increase your state pension payments by up to £30,000. "Just on the new tool from govt over state pension top up. I'd said it'd be in this weeks MSE email, i'm holding it a week, as not sure we'll have all the info we need in time," he added.

One Twitter user told the MSE founder: "Just tried it and tried all four options, none of them allowed me to pay on-line! Useless in other words." A second said: "Just tried it too, outcome was ‘contact future pension centre! No help whatsoever!"

"Wish HMRC would hurry up and sort the publishing of the Protected tax free cash calculations for pension companies. I'm unable to draw an urgently needed lump sum until they do," another posted.