DWP pension deadline extended giving people more time to boost payments - here's how

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The government has extended its deadline for people to voluntarily fill in the gaps in their national insurance (NI) record which could boost their state pension entitlement.

Those with gaps in their NI records dating all the way back to April 2006 will now have more time to decide whether they want to fill them in, potentially putting more towards their retirement fund.

People have been able to retrospectively build their April 2006 to April 2016 record through voluntary contributions as part of transitional arrangements introduced with the new state pension.

Previously, the deadline was set for April 5 of this year, however, the government has now announced that an extension to July 31 will now be provided. Read more: All the state pension changes coming within a few weeks On Tuesday this week, a written ministerial statement by Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins said: “HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) and DWP (the Department for Work and Pensions) have experienced a recent surge in customer contact. “To ensure customers do not miss out, the Government intends to extend the April 5 deadline to pay voluntary NICs (national insurance contributions) to July 31 this year. “This applies to years that would otherwise have been out of time to pay after April 5, up to and including the 2016/17 tax year.