Daughter Advances £9,900 to Boost Father's State Pension, Leaving Him Stuck in Protracted Delay for 18 Months
Julie Stewart, a 67-year-old English teacher from Oxfordshire, recently experienced a significant turn of events in her pursuit of a full state pension. After discovering gaps in her National Insurance (NI) record, Julie decided to buy missing NI years to make up for the shortfall.
In early 2025, Julie contacted Money Mail expressing her concerns about missing the April 6 deadline on a special government deal that allowed people to buy NI years going back to 2006. However, the deal had expired last April, leaving Julie in a precarious position.
Julie's file was sent to the International Pension Centre (IPC) after she contacted HMRC. Unfortunately, the IPC informed her that they had not received her information from HMRC, causing further delays. Julie was told that it would take another 20 weeks for her file to work through the system.
The DWP and HMRC later apologised for the errors made in Julie's case and committed to resolving them as quickly as possible. After Money Mail raised Julie's case with the DWP and HMRC, Julie finally received an increase from about £152 a week to a full £230.25-a-week state pension and about £1,550 in arrears.
Each one-year top-up will buy you an extra £6.58 a week of state pension, or about £342 a year. The cost to buy a full 2024/25 year is £907.40 if you were employed.
Julie, who also worked in France, found out she had gaps in her NI record, which meant she would not receive the full state pension. Determined to rectify the situation, she transferred £9,900 to fill 12 years of gaps in her state pension, but her payments had not been increased by April.
When Julie logged on to the government website, the 12 years that she had paid for were still listed as "Year not full." This was a frustrating development for Julie, who had taken proactive steps to improve her financial situation.
Roughly 750,000 people a year hit state pension age, and an estimated 100,000 have gaps in their record and could benefit from buying top-ups. For those who cannot use the online tool at gov.uk/check-state-pension, including those already over state pension age, those self-employed in any of the years they are trying to pay for, and those who lived abroad in the years they want to fill up, they must apply to the DWP, either online or by contacting the International Pension Centre if they live abroad.
Julie plans to put a minimum of €100 into savings each month towards paying her daughter back. Her extra state pension amount goes towards fully paying her way and sharing bills, providing her with financial independence.
The Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German Pension Insurance) is responsible for processing applications from individuals like Julie who try to improve their pension through one-time payments when living outside the UK. This case serves as a reminder for those with gaps in their NI record to take action and check their state pension entitlements to ensure they receive the full benefits they are entitled to.
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