Filling gaps in your National Insurance record, deferring your payments, claiming your late husband’s entitlements and other State Pension loopholes

Are you concerned about making ends meet on your State Pension? These five pieces of fine print could help boost your payments.

It’s no secret that surviving on a State Pension isn’t easy.

According to research from Age Concern released earlier this year, some 16% of UK pensioners live in relative poverty.

The charity also found that providing sufficient income from the State Pension is key to ending financial disadvantage in retirement.

As such, those in this age bracket need to do everything possible to make sure they get every penny they’re entitled to.

Here, we look at five lesser-known State Pension loopholes that could help you save – or even make – money.

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1. You can temporarily stop claiming

As we’ve written about previously, deferring your State Pension can be a useful way to boost your retirement income.

If you defer for at least nine weeks, you’ll receive higher weekly payments in return – at a rate of 1% for every nine weeks.

What may, however, be less widely known is that you can pause your payments after you’ve started claiming and resume at a later date.

Again, the aim is to increase your future payments.

Be aware, however, you can only do this once and you’ll normally need to live in the UK to suspend your payments.

2. You can get a one-off lump sum (plus interest)

If you defer your State Pension, your options for receiving your additional payments will depend on the date at which you retired.

If you reached State Pension age after April 2016, your additional payments will be added to your regular State Pension.

However, if you reached State Pension age before this date, you can also opt to receive your additional payments as a one-off lump sum.

To qualify for the lump sum, you’ll need to defer for at least 12 consecutive months.

In addition to your deferred payments, your lump sum will include interest at a rate of 2% above the Bank of England base rate.

Note, you’ll need to pay tax on your lump sum, with the amount depending on your Income Tax bracket.

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3. Women may have been underpaid £9,000

If you’re a woman over State Pension age, it’s essential to check your payment records to ensure you haven’t been caught up in the pension underpayment scandal.

The problem primarily affects married, widowed or divorced women who began receiving their State Pension before April 2016.

Under the Old State Pension system, these women were entitled to up to 60% of their husband’s Basic State Pension allowance.

This is because the old system calculated a woman’s entitlement based on her husband’s National Insurance (NI) record, instead of her own.

From 2008, the DWP was supposed to automatically apply this increase to women’s pensions. However, this didn’t happen due to a computer error.

Additionally, women whose husbands reached State Pension age before 2008 may also be entitled to compensation.

Before this date, women needed to make a claim to have their pension entitlement increased based on their husband’s NI records. However, many did not do so, raising questions about whether the DWP took adequate steps to make women aware of these rules.

According to the latest Government data, more than 230,000 women are affected, with the average payment standing at approximately £9,000.

Although the DWP has stated that it will contact some of the affected women, you can also check this online calculator if you believe you may be owed.

You can learn more in our article DWP ‘may have underpaid thousands more people’.

4. You can fill gaps in your NI record (but you may need to act quickly)

If you reached State Pension age after April 2016, you’ll need at least 10 years of NI contributions to receive any State Pension and 35 years to get the full amount.

For those who reached State Pension age before 2016, this requirement is 30 years.

Worryingly, many of us have gaps in our record due to periods during which we had low earnings, were unemployed or not claiming benefits.

If you’re concerned about gaps in your record, you can make voluntary contributions to top up the amount of your State Pension.

You can typically only fill gaps going back up to six years, but there is currently an exception to this rule.

When the New State Pension came into force in 2016, the Government introduced transitional rules to allow people to plug any gaps back to 2006.

If you’d like to do so, the deadline is April 2025.

You can read more in our guide How to top up your State Pension

5. You can change your payment dates

The State Pension is typically paid into your account every four weeks, but you can request weekly payments if it helps you manage your finances more effectively.

Although the total monthly amount remains the same, spreading out payments may be beneficial if you have expenses at different times of the month.

If you're already claiming, you can contact the Pension Service to request this change, or you can opt for weekly payments when you first start claiming.