The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is urging people to “check if this applies to you” as many people could increase how much State Pension they’ll receive. Currently, a person is able to claim the new State Pension if they are a man born on or after April 6, 1951, or a woman born on or after April 6, 1953.
Those born before these dates will get the basic State Pension instead. And to get any new State Pension a person needs to have 10 qualifying years on their National Insurance record.
A qualifying year, DWP states, is one in which you were working and made National Insurance contributions, received National Insurance credits, or have paid voluntary National Insurance contributions. Any gaps may mean you don’t have enough “years of National Insurance” to qualify for a State Pension.
In a new update on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, DWP urged people to check if they could receive more State Pension by making additional contributions. The post reads: “Want to know how much #StatePension you’ll get?
“You may be able to get more by making Voluntary National Insurance Contributions Check if this applies to you via the free @HMRCgovuk app. #PensionPlanning”.
Voluntary contributions, DWP adds on Gov.uk, do not always increase the amount of State Pension. You can use the DWP‘s “State Pension Forecast” tool to see whether you’d be better off for making any contributions here.
