Savers are still chasing old state pension top-up payments made to the Government months or years ago, as a new crunch deadline looms this April.
Lynne Cole, 71 paid more than £800 in early 2023, in the midst of the last big rush to take advantage of a deal to buy top-ups stretching back to 2006.
Nearly two years on, she had still got no boost to her state pension, despite her MP’s attempt to help – until her husband left a comment on a Steve Webb column last month, saying: ‘Possibly we’ll both be dead before she gets it!’
Within a week of This is Money flagging the delay to the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC, Mrs Cole received a £530 back payment and a state pension rise of around £7.70 a week.
It turned out her case had been marked as ‘complex’ for an unknown reason, put to one side and not dealt with by Government staff until we demanded an explanation.
Buying top-ups can give a generous boost to retirement income if you buy the correct years on your record.
Lynne Cole: ‘I seem to have been going around in circles and getting nowhere for almost two years’
Savers now have until 5 April to take advantage of the deal to buy top-ups dating back 18 years, after which it will revert to just six years, unless the deadline is pushed back again.
In spring 2023, the time-limited deal proved so popular that savers jammed phone lines and overwhelmed the system.
The meltdown ultimately forced the Government to extend the cut-off date twice, first to midsummer and then when demand didn’t slow until April 2025.
That caused a huge backlog of payments to process, and This is Money readers contacted us in droves over the following year to complain about long delays, lost cash and government staff giving wrong information or unable to help.
Some accused the Government of encouraging them to make unnecessary payments, then failing to help find and refund their cash.
We still receive messages now, and we highlight Mrs Cole’s struggle to track down her lost payment plus two other bungled cases below. If your payment has gone missing, scroll down to find out how to contact us.
Why are top-ups so valuable, might YOU benefit – and are DWP and HMRC ready for another big rush?
This is Money’s guide to buying state pension top-ups offers six golden rules on deciding if you should fill gaps by Steve Webb, a former Pensions Minister and our retirement columnist.
It can be highly cost-effective because one extra year will boost your state pension entitlement by 1/35th of the standard rate.
That works out at £6.32 a week, around £329 a year, or nearly £6,600 over a 20-year retirement (not taking into account tax), for an initial outlay of £824.20 at the 2022-2023 rate, or less if you are filling in a part-year. The 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 rate is £907.40.
DWP and HMP launched a new online tool in 2024 to help people check if they should fill state pension gaps and buy top-ups more easily, and since then we get far fewer messages from unhappy readers.
The system is run jointly by the two departments. HMRC is responsible for maintaining National Insurance records, which you must check for gaps in your state pension records, and processing top-up payments. The DWP is in charge of revising state pension forecasts or payments after purchases.
If money goes missing, it is hard to tell at which stage it happened and therefore which department to chase about it. Readers constantly tell us how they call and are sent round in circles, never finding any staff member willing to help solve the problem.
State pension top-ups: The system is run jointly by HMRC and the DWP, which say they ‘work closely together and always prioritise resources as needed to manage spikes in demand’
Meanwhile, a state pension overhaul in April 2016 means some top-ups do not improve your payments.
If you handed over money unnecessarily due to your own error or on the wrong advice of Government staff, you will need to apply for a refund.
When we were investigating cases of missing cash for this story, we asked whether HMRC or DWP or both plan to allocate extra staff to deal with top-ups in the run-up to this April’s deadline, and if they intend to work more closely together so payments are processed efficiently and don’t get lost between them.
In light of Mrs Cole’s experience, we also asked how many top-ups cases are currently marked as ‘complex’ and put aside, and what is being done by DWP and HMRC to sort them out.
A Government spokesperson says: ‘There’s still time to make voluntary contributions before the 5 April 2025 deadline. We encourage people to act now.
‘HMRC and DWP will continue to work closely together and always prioritise resources as needed to manage spikes in demand, particularly for upcoming deadlines.’
‘We have apologised to Mrs Cole for the level of service she received – where errors do occur we are committed to resolving them as soon as possible.’
Want to buy top-ups, or just check if it is worth doing in your own circumstances? Use the online top-ups service here or the HMRC app.
This is Money’s guide to buying state pension top-ups is here. If you have paid and heard nothing more, contact us at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk.
Unfortunately we can’t help everyone so you can also contact your MP. If you are an expat, you can contact the MP in the last constituency you lived in and still request help. Find your MP here.
‘I seem to have been going around in circles and getting nowhere’
Lynne Cole, a retired mortgage administrator from Kent, saw her £824.20 payment to top up her state pension vanish in February 2023.
The huge rush of savers taking advantage of the special deal on top-ups was mounting at that time.
This is Money was the first to report on the phone gridlock the same month, and on early calls for the deadline to be extended – which it ultimately was, twice.
Mrs Cole’s cheque was also cashed at the same time, but despite her letters and phone calls and her MP getting involved, there was no sign of her additional pension by December 2024.
That was when her husband Patrick left a frustrated comment on Steve Webb’s recent column about buying top-ups, and we spotted it and emailed him later that day.
When we spoke to Mrs Cole, she told us: ‘I seem to have been going around in circles and getting nowhere for almost two years.’
Mr Cole added: ‘Maybe we should have contacted you before, but who would have thought it would take this long?
‘Lynne did phone them and was told there was a backlog. It’s ridiculous. You wouldn’t believe it. It’s been two years.’
Within a couple of days of This is Money flagging her case, a DWP staff member called Mrs Cole to sort the matter out.
She told us: ‘We spoke to a very helpful person who made no excuses and said that for some reason my case had been marked as complex, put to one side and not dealt with.
‘He couldn’t say why this had happened and said that it wasn’t complex at all. He said a payment of £533 backdated pension would be paid into my bank account by Monday and that my pension will increase by £400 approximately per annum.
‘Once again thank you very much for your help in this matter, without which I’d still be waiting. It’s one less thing to worry about.’
The Government apologised to Mrs Cole for the level of service she received, her state pension was increased to reflect her updated National Insurance record, and arrears were issued.
Richard Felton: He paid £982.80 in June to fill gaps in his state pension record, but his cash got stuck in the system for six months
DWP put me in a ‘priority list’ but I still waited months
Richard Felton, 59, paid £982.80 in June to fill gaps in his state pension record but it got stuck in the system for months.
The IT business analyst, who lives in London, told us: ‘I was initially told two weeks to allocate, then told eight weeks, then 26 weeks. Still waiting.
‘They know my NI shortfalls by year, they confirmed receipt of money in June, they know the years to be topped up. Surely allocation should be automatic?
‘Maybe they are upgrading computer systems and it has over-run, but this is a simple procedure, isn’t it? An intern could knock-up a spreadsheet in days, I think.
‘I have chased DWP a couple of times. They put me in a “priority list”, but still the target date is December 2024.’
When This is Money raised Mr Felton’s case with DWP and HMRC, they apologised and allocated his contributions to his National Insurance record.
Meanwhile, Christine Walker (name has been changed) first contacted us about delays to processing her top-ups cash just over a year ago.
We covered her experiences and that of 10 other readers at the time, and her £6,500 payment was allocated to her state pension record at the time.
But that wasn’t the end of the story for the 67-year-old, who lives in the UAE, because she received advice from government staff to buy a further top-up and paid around £820 in mid-March.
This payment also got lost in the system, until This is Money chased it up for her last June.
Mrs Walker had deferred her state pension while all this was being sorted out, but when she finally applied her last top-up payment was not backdated correctly.
This is Money asked the DWP and HMRC to investigate this third failure, prompting an apology to her and an arrears payment of £85.
What do DWP and HMRC say?
The Government provided the following further information about buying state pension top-ups:
– People can check for and fill any gaps in their National Insurance record quickly and easily, using our check your state pension forecast tool on Gov.uk.
– We encourage people to check if it would be worth their while to pay voluntary NI contributions by using our online checker. It allows most people under state pension age to view gaps in their NI record and pay voluntary contributions to fill those gaps.
– People have until the 5 April 2025 deadline to pay for National Insurance record gaps dating back to 6 April 2006.
– We always prioritise resources to deal with foreseen busy periods. This will include reviewing our resources before the deadline.
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