I get an extra £738 free cash a year thanks to Martin Lewis tip – how you can too
A MARTIN Lewis fan has revealed how they boosted their income by £738 a year after following one of his tips.
It comes after the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com has urged households to make sure that they have enough qualifying years to lock in their eligibility for the full state pension.
The Martin Lewis fan wrote into the latest episode of the Martin Lewis Money Show Live to share their state pension success.
The fan said: “After watching your programme, I claimed specified adult childcare credits as I was not going to receive a full state pension.
“Success – instead of getting £171.80 per week state pension, I now get £185.15 per week. Thank you Martin, you are a star.”
In response to the success, Martin said: “That’s a £14 per week gain, times that by 50 and that’s £700 a year and if she lives 20 years that’s £14,000 which is why this is as important as it is.
“Specified adult childcare, I call it grandparents childcare credit, cause if the parents are working and they’re getting National Insurance anyway, so they don’t need the National Insurance they’re getting for looking after the children.
“But if a grandparent is looking after the children for them, you can transfer the credits over so that the grandparent gets the credits for the National Insurance years, instead of the parent as they’re already getting their own.”
How much you can get for the new state pension depends on your National Insurance contributions.
You can get the full amount if you have made 35 years’ worth and have to have made 10 years to get at least something.
But you can top up any missing gaps in your NI record through NI credits or voluntary contributions.
It is vital to check if the gaps in your contributions can be plugged with free NICs credits before making a voluntary contribution.
Thousands are thought to be missing out on these NI Credits, leaving them worse off in retirement.
For example, those on certain benefits should qualify for Class 1 credits.
You can check the full list of who’s eligible for claiming credits on the government website.
It explains the circumstances where you’ll need to claim and when you’ll get it automatically.
How can I top up my state pension with voluntary contributions?
You can top up any missing gaps in your NI record through voluntary contributions.
But you have to pay if you want to plug any gaps.
Earning back your missing NI years costs £15.85 a week so it will work out as £824.20 to buy one year of contributions.
Earlier this week, the government announced that the deadline for people to plug the gaps in their (NI) record has been extended until April 5, 2025.
Currently you can backfill holes from 2006 to 2016 and this scheme was due to end on July 31.
After this date, Brits would have only been able to backdate payments by up to six years but now Brits have been handed even longer to fill the holes.
But HMRC has said that the revised deadline will enable “tens of thousands” more people to plug the gaps which can boost their pensions by thousands in retirement.
This scheme only applies to people who reached (or will reach) state pension age after April 5, 2016.
Those who could benefit from the scheme are being urged to apply before the deadline – and doing so could get you £55,000 over a 20-year retirement.
Before making voluntary contributions, you need to get a pension forecast and speak to the Government’s Future Pension Centre.