Martin Lewis has released an urgent plea to anyone under the age of 70 as a deadline approaches that could cost you thousands of pounds. Despite not filling his regular ITV slot due to family commitments, the money saving expert still went ahead with the Martin Lewis Podcast, in which he issued one of his too-common warnings for immediate action.
Martin informed listeners that the state pension deadline could cost you up to £7,500 if ignored or missed. "It could leave many thousands of pounds better off, but you need to do it by the end of the tax year, April 5", Martin urged.
Whilst state pensions sound mundane, it could affect everyone aged between 45 and 70 due to a change put in place in 2016, and comes into force in April.
Martin Lewis said: "We need to spread the word on this. On April 6 2016 that was the day they introduced the new state pension.
"For those who hit pension age since then, you have been put on the new state pension. As part of that, transitional arrangements were put in place. Those transitional arrangements end this tax year, they end on April 5 2023.
"That is why there's an urgency for what I'm about to say.
"This is all about your National Insurance years. The amount that you get in your state pension is about the number of qualifying years that you have.
"You can acquire years by working. Minimum wage, and you will get National Insurance credits, or if you're not working there are other ways you can get NI credits for example if you are raising children or have a disability.
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"Now to get the full state pension when you retire, on the new state pension, you will need 35 years ish. Some of you when you get to retirement will be missing years - it might be you were on a low income or working abroad.
"Anybody listening right now, do this. If you are not yet at state retirement age, go to gov.uk and look up your state pension summary.
"That will tell you when you will get your pension and it will give you a forecast of how much you are likely to get."
He also added that you can check your National Insurance record to see if there are any gaps in your National Insurance.
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