Martin Lewis urges Brits born before 1979 to consider spending £800 ahead of huge deadline

Martin Lewis has urged everyone born before 1979 to make a "check" and consider making an £800 payment.

The Money Saving Expert (MSE) website founder shared the advice when hosting a recent episode of ITV's Good Morning Britain. He warned that some Brits may not get the full state pension, and urged them to check their National Insurance records to find out as a major deadline is coming up.

Under the current rules, you need 35 qualifying years on your National Insurance record - some people may need more - to claim the full new state pension. You normally need 10 years to receive anything at all. If you have gaps in your record, you could receive much less than you expected - however, you can purchase National Insurance years or claim free National Insurance credits to plug any holes.

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Right now, you can currently buy back missing National Insurance years dating back to 2006 but after April 2025 you will only be able to go back six tax years. This means if you have any gaps before this, you won't be able to fill them and you could lose thousands in state pension payments.

On Good Morning Britain, Martin told viewers that top-up for a missed qualifying year currently costs £824 and boosts your pre-tax annual state pension entitlement by around £300 and over the course of 20 years this equates to an extra £6,000.

Martin said: "If you have gaps between 2006 and 2018, you need to think about it this year because you can only do it until next April. If you're under 45 this probably isn't worth doing, unless you've got very cheap partial years." If you are 45 years old, then you will have been born in 1979 - so if you were born in the years before this you may want to make a check.

Before buying any National Insurance contributions, check if you'd benefit from plugging any gaps in your record. If you do have gaps, you should also check if you can plug them for free using National Insurance Credits.

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