More than half a million people bombarded the Department of Work and Pensions with callback requests about state pension top-ups ahead of a crunch deadline in April.
The Government has already dealt with all 56,300 requests received from people over state pension age who live in Britain, it says in a response to Liberal Democrat work and pension spokesman Steve Darling MP.
It has also cleared 80 per cent of the nearly 24,000 requests from people aged over 66 who live overseas, and expects to get through the rest by the end of this year.
Out of around 447,800 requests from people under state pension age, some 119,500 are yet to be processed and this could take until March 2026.
The DWP launched a callback service to deal with the huge volume of enquiries from older people rushing to take advantage of a special deal – before it ran out in April – to increase their retirement income.
This allowed people to fill gaps in state pension records going back to 2006, rather than just the past six years.
The six-year rule is back in place now, but the people who lodged a callback request before the deadline are still allowed to purchase the older years.
Steve Darling MP: Lib Dem asked DWP for an update on state pension top-up callbacks
Buying top-ups can mean a generous boost to your state pension if you buy the correct years, but National Insurance records can be complicated so you need to check it is worth doing before handing over money.
Most people can use an online top-ups service to do this, but others need or want to discuss it with the DWP first.
Meanwhile, we have received many messages from readers complaining about state pension top-ups cash going missing both before and since the April deadline – see below for how to get in touch with us if you are still waiting.
The DWP and HMRC run the top-ups system between them. The DWP is responsible for fielding questions about whether it is worth topping up, and updating state pensions or forecasts after payments. HMRC looks after National Insurance records and takes and processes top-ups payments.
If money disappears, people find it difficult to know at what stage this happened, and therefore which department to call. We often hear from readers sent back and forth between them by Government staff, without finding anyone willing to help.
Steve Darling MP asked the DWP how many callback requests were logged in total before 6 April 2025, how many have been dealt with so far and when the process will be completed.
He also asked how many people went on to buy top-ups after their callback was answered, but the DWP said it does not hold data about that.
Pensions Minister Torsten Bell explained the two-step process the DWP followed when handling requests in his response below.
‘In total, DWP received c528,000 call-back requests from customers ahead of the voluntary National Insurance Contributions deadline of 5 April 2025,’ he said.
> Is it worth buying state pension top-ups? Read our guide
In the spring, readers told us they were being asked for their National Insurance number and to go through a security check during an initial call.
They were then told staff would ring them for more in-depth conversations about buying top-ups.
We have since heard from some readers who say they are still waiting for these second calls, but it is unclear whether they are under state pension age and therefore still in the queue.
Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, who is now a partner at pension consultants LCP, said of the DWP response to the parliamentary question: ‘These figures confirm that massive level of interest in state pension top-ups, with more than half a million people needing a call back after the official deadline.
‘It is welcome that DWP has prioritised those already over pension age, but where these people have bought top-ups it is important that these are processed quickly and efficiently and an enhanced rate of state pension put into payment as soon as possible.’
Webb, who is This is Money’s pensions columnist, added: ‘Too often, we hear of people who don’t know what has happened to the money they paid, or see no change to their pension for months, and we cannot see a repeat of these problems this time round.’
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