Woman’s £9,900 State‑pension Top‑up Stalls for 18 Months as DWP and HMRC Pass the Case Between Them

Julie Stewart paid £9,900 to buy missing National Insurance years to restore a full state pension but spent 18 months waiting for the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs to complete the paperwork, receiving the increase only after a newspaper raised her case.

Stewart, 67, had been on track to receive about £134 a week when she reached state pension age in November 2023 — well below the full new state pension of £203.85 at that time. After investigating options to top up gaps in her NI record, she accepted an interest‑free loan from her daughter and applied to buy 12 years to reach a full entitlement. The lump sum was paid at the end of January 2025, but the increase was not reflected in her record until Money Mail intervened.

Stewart, a former English teacher who later worked in France and the UK, said she had “crunched the numbers” and concluded buying years under a temporary government offer that allowed top‑ups back to 2006 was the best option. The special deal closed in April 2024. Under the rules for the new state pension, 35 qualifying years of NI contributions are needed for the full amount; each missing year reduces entitlement by 1/35th.

The cost to buy a full 2024/25 year for someone employed was £907.40 — equivalent to £17.45 a week. One year of purchase increases the state pension by about £6.58 a week (roughly £342 a year), meaning buyers can often recoup the outlay in around three years, depending on the years they buy and their employment status. Older years and part‑year gaps can be cheaper, and self‑employed people may pay different rates.

Stewart said she first submitted a form to the DWP in November 2023. She checked the online progress report periodically and was told completion dates ranging from July to September 2024; the report showed “Completed” in July 2024. When she contacted HMRC, she was told the file had been sent to the DWP’s International Pension Centre, which then said it had not received the information from HMRC. Staff apologised but told her another 20 weeks would be needed to process the file. The delays stretched into early 2025 as the April deadline on the temporary offer approached.

At the end of January 2025 Stewart was informed she could purchase 12 years and transferred £9,900 immediately. By April, however, the government website still showed the years she had paid for as “Year not full” and her weekly payment had not risen. The unresolved status caused significant anxiety; Stewart said she began checking the site multiple times a day and was driven to tears by the uncertainty.

After Money Mail raised the case with both the DWP and HMRC, Stewart’s state pension was increased from about £152 a week to a full £230.25 a week, and she received arrears of about £1,550 in time for a planned trip to the U.K. for her brother’s 70th birthday. Stewart said the extra income restored a degree of financial independence and that she planned to contribute at least €100 a month towards repaying her daughter.

The difficulties experienced by Stewart mirror a flood of complaints from other savers who have paid to top up their state pensions and then found the payments unprocessed for months or years. The system is split between HMRC and the DWP, and officials acknowledge cases can fall through the cracks when records and transfers are not managed smoothly.

Roughly 750,000 people reach state pension age each year; industry estimates suggest about 100,000 of them have gaps in their NI records that could make them candidates for buying top‑up years. The government warns people to check entitlement before paying: an online tool at gov.uk/check-state-pension now calculates entitlement automatically for most people, but it is not available to everyone. Those who are over state pension age, who were self‑employed in years they wish to buy, or who lived abroad in the years they want to fill must apply through the DWP directly. People living overseas should contact the International Pension Centre.

After the newspaper intervened in Stewart’s case and several others, the DWP and HMRC issued a joint statement apologising to people who had not received the expected level of service and saying they were committed to resolving errors as quickly as possible. The agencies did not provide a timetable for systemic fixes. A Money Mail helpline invited readers with missing top‑up payments to contact its pension team and suggested approaching MPs where necessary.

Experts and advisers emphasise that topping up can be a good investment for people with gaps in their records, but they caution that the rules and eligibility criteria are complex and that applicants should secure clear confirmation from government departments before transferring significant sums. For those who cannot use the online check tool, contacting the DWP in good time and keeping careful records of correspondence with both HMRC and the International Pension Centre can help trace stalled files.

Stewart’s experience underscores the practical and emotional strain that administrative delays can place on older savers trying to shore up retirement income. Her case was eventually resolved, but it highlights how fragmented processes between HMRC and the DWP can leave claimants out of pocket and in limbo for extended periods.