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7 urgent checks to ensure you won't miss out - or don't already - on possibly £10,000s of State Pension
New. Self-employed State Pension error, 800,000 may be underpaid

This week we've just had news of yet another State Pension error, this one affecting 100,000s who became self-employed since 2015. The whole State Pension system is incredibly complex, which means even those in charge of it can make huge errors, miss payments and more. Some mistakes are automatically corrected; with others, it's don't ask, don't get. So you need to know to ask. This is big money, we've had some tell us of £50,000+ successes. Before the checks, an explainer...

Martin's simple State Pension explainer...  The State Pension is paid once you hit State Pension age - currently just over 66, rising to 67 (check your State Pension age) - but only if you have enough qualifying National Insurance (NI) years. Think of each NI year as a token you must gain, either by earning enough from work, caring for your children, or being on certain benefits (see Can you claim free NI years?).  On the current system, you need at least 10 tokens to get any State Pension at all, and very roughly 35 to get the full new State Pension. There are actually two State Pensions... - New one: For those who hit State Pension age after 5 Apr 2016. Its full current amount is £241.30/wk (£12,548/yr).  - Old one: For those who are older. Its full current amount is £184.90/wk (£9,615/yr), though extra bits such as the Additional State Pension can lift that higher.  Many think the State Pension is tax-free. It isn't, it's taxable income. It's just that, by itself, for most it has long been less than the personal allowance (the amount you can earn tax-free a year). Yet as the pension has risen and the allowance frozen at £12,570/yr, the full new State Pension is just £22 less. So many who have even small other earnings will pay 20% tax on any amount above the allowance. PS: If you don't get the full State Pension and have a low income, it's worth checking out Pension Credit, which can top it up.

1. Check if you're on track to get the full State Pension. If you're not yet at State Pension age, check your State Pension forecast on Gov.uk to see if you're on track for the maximum £241.30/wk.
   
   
2. Check if you have National Insurance (NI) gaps. Use Gov.uk's check your NI record tool. The system is binary: either you have a 'full year' which counts, or a 'year not full' which doesn't. Even if some years aren't full, if your forecast shows you're on track to get (or are currently getting) the full State Pension, there's usually little issue. 
   
   If not, and you have gaps in the last six years, you can buy those years. First, check below whether you can get them for free. Buying years can be hugely lucrative, but it's usually best for those at or approaching State Pension age, when you're unlikely to build up enough NI years naturally. It can also be good value if you only need to pay a small amount to make a partial year count as a full one. See our Should I buy National Insurance years? guide for full help.
   
   
3. Took time off work between 1978 & 2010 to look after children or care for someone with a long-term disability?100,000s in this position likely wrongly have NI gaps that reduce their State Pension. Last year the Govt decided to stop writing letters to people about it, leaving the onus on you to proactively check. Our Home Responsibilities Protection guide takes you through it. As Mary emailed Martin in Feb: "I would like to say a HUGE thank you for highlighting Home Responsibilities Protection, I have just been awarded £16,000, this will make a big difference to our lives. I would not have known about this if I hadn't seen your show or read your emails. THANK YOU."
   
   
4. New. Have you become self-employed from 2015 to 2024? You could be one of 800,000 with incorrect gaps in your NI record - and if that means you're not on track for the full State Pension, you're at risk of being underpaid £1,000s. This is a brand-new issue that's just come to light this week. If those signing up for self-assessment didn't also tell HMRC you were self-employed using the specific CWF1 form, they may not have paid the right amount of State-Pension-boosting Class 2 NI contributions. Most people were given the right amount, but a significant number weren't. See our full Self-employed missing State Pension briefing for full info.
   
   
5. Are you a woman who reached State Pension age before 2016? 100,000s of married, divorced or widowed women (plus a few widowers) were in some cases wrongly paid too little because their pension wasn't properly boosted based on a husband's, ex-husband's or late husband's pension. See our Missing State Pension guide to check.
   
   
6. Parents and grandparents, can you claim old NI years for FREE? While NI years are usually auto-added, in some cases they need claiming and can often be back-claimed. We've a full list of free NI years to claim, but a key one is NI credits for childcare. The non-working partner should always be the one to claim Child Benefit as that triggers them getting NI credits, while the working partner gets them anyway though work. If you got this the wrong way around, you can ask to retrospectively transfer it to you. Similar is true if you don't claim it because your partner earns too much - again, that could leave you missing out (though you can't back-claim as far back).
   
   Alternatively, if grandparents (or other family members) under State Pension age provided childcare for an under-12, any time since 2011, as the parents/guardians were working, then under the specified adult childcare credit system, the parent can apply to transfer their NI credit to them. As Sharon emailed us: "After hearing about grandparents being able to claim missing years for childcare of grandchildren, my daughter applied for me. I managed to fill my missing 6 years of NI contributions and my pension increased by £50/wk [£2,600/yr]. I also got £3,300 backdated to when the claim was first made. Thank you for bringing it to our attention."
   
   
7. Carers, did you miss claiming the credit you were entitled to? Those aged 16 to State Pension age who provide unpaid care - such as washing, cooking, shopping or dressing - for at least 20hrs a week for someone receiving at least one qualifying benefit (including Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance) are eligible for free NI credits. This applies even if caring for your partner or child. See Carer's Credit for full info, including how to backdate it one tax year. If you do more hours, you may be eligible for Carer's Allowance instead.

Turn the tables on credit card companies
You stooze, they lose: Make £100s manipulating your plastic 

Stoozing is the art of creating an unneeded debt to make money. In a nutshell, you take out a 0% credit card, then save the money it gives you at high interest. And with savings rates far higher than a few years ago, and 0% cards getting longer again, it's now possible to make £100s, or even £1,000s a year doing this.

Martin won't let us mention this without what he calls the MoneySaving poetry from the early days - when former card firm Egg was lending him money at 0%, which he then put in Egg's own high-interest savings account paying 6%! Back then, some even had £80,000+ in their 'stooze pot', making gains of £5,000+ a year. And we're creeping close to those times (do let us know if you've a big stooze pot). As for how to do it, we've a full Stoozing guide, but here's a quick summary...

• Warning. This takes discipline - it's ONLY for the debt-free, financially savvy. If in doubt, don't! If you're not very financially organised, unsure of how it works, have a poor credit history, don't have financial self-discipline, or have other credit card, overdraft or loan debt, this ISN'T for you. If in doubt, DON'T. 
  
  
• Step 1. Get a long 0% spending card. The key to stoozing is how you get the debt off the credit card into your savings account. There used to be a couple of different ways, but a change in credit card offers now means the most lucrative route by far is via a card you can do new spending on without paying interest. The longer the better. Best is to use our 0% Spending Eligibility Calc which shows which top cards you're most likely to get. The top picks for stoozing at the moment are the following (all link via the eligibility calc):
  
  - Longest definite 0% card: M&S 25mths 0% is the longest card on the market where all accepted customers who go via our link get the full advertised 0% length. It also gives you 0.2% back on your spending in M&S points, boosting the gain.
  - Shorter 0% but £25 boost: HSBC up to 24mths 0% (existing HSBC customer? Use this link) pays you £25 if you spend £500+ on it within 60 days... easy if you're stoozing. It's an 'up to' card, yet if you're pre-approved in our eligibility calc, you'll definitely get the full 24mths (if not, you could be accepted and get 24 or 15mths).
  More options in top 0% spending cards.

• Step 2. Do ALL normal spending on the card. Do all your normal spending (and possibly your family's too) on it up to the credit limit - but this isn't a reason to spend more. All you're effectively doing is using the card instead of money in your bank account, so you build up the 0% debt. You still need to make the minimum monthly repayments, and this is a rare occasion where the right tactic is to just pay the minimum.
  
  
• Step 3. Put the unspent money from your bank account in top savings. As you've spent on your credit, not debit, card this should build up a mirror amount of unspent income in your current account. So each month sweep that into the top easy-access savings, which can pay up to 5%. Do it as easy access, as while we've never heard of it happening to a stoozer, technically the card debt can be called in at any time, so you always want the money handy.
  
  
• Step 4. You could stop there or prolong or even increase the stooze... In the MONTH BEFORE THE 0% ENDS, either use the money in savings to clear the 0% debt before any interest is charged, or shift it to a 0% balance transfer (a fee-free one's best to maximise the gains). 
  
  Of course, with a decent credit score and careful management, you can do this with more than one card and build your stooze pot, so you're earning more. As Leigh emailed: "I started using MSE in 2009, I've been reading the weekly email every week since. Over the years I've done virtually everything that is suggested on the website. My personal favourite is credit card stoozing, which has saved us £1,000s over the time we've been doing it by persistently holding five-figure sums at 0%. We currently save over £600 every year with just 2 cards. A massive thank you to Martin and the team!"
  
  
• Stoozing golden safety rules. Full info in the Stoozing guide, but in brief:
  1. Pay the monthly minimum (for safety, by Direct Debit) and don't bust the credit limit, or you can lose the 0%.
  2. Don't use these cards for anything else, such as cash withdrawals or shifting debt.
  3. Clear the card or balance-transfer before 0% ends, or the interest jumps to 25%ish rep APR, killing any gain.
  4. Do not take risks with the stooze pot, or you could find the manufactured deliberate debt becomes real debt.
  5. In credit-score terms, stoozing debt is still a debt, so it impacts your creditworthiness while you have it. The magnitude depends on the size of the debt. If you've an important application such as a mortgage due, bear that in mind.