People urged to check State Pension forecast to find out how much money they are due each week

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The UK Government recently announced that people now have until the end of July to plug any gaps in their National Insurance record which will in turn boost their State Pension payments when they reach the official retirement age.

The April 5 deadline was extended until July 31 after phone lines to the Future Pension Centre became jammed as people rushed to buy missing years.The extension means people can buy missing years going back to 2006 in contributions which would count towards their State Pension - after that, they can only go back six tax years.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said last week that it is “not possible to estimate the number of people” who would benefit from plugging gaps.

However, DWP Pensions Minister Laura Trott MP did advise anyone who is unsure to use the online ‘Check your State Pension’ forecasting tool on GOV.UK which tells you exactly how much money you will be paid each week in retirement - and what age you will be able to officially retire.The online calculator gives people a personalised State Pension forecast, based on their National Insurance record, and a forecast entitlement if they fill all the Qualifying Years available to them.Ms Trott also advised that once this has been done, “if people are below State Pension age, they can contact the Future Pension Centre to find out if they will benefit from voluntary contributions.