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Have you checked your state pension recently making sure you are on track to receive your full pension when you retire?

We highly recommend that you contact the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) and request a state pension forecast to identify if there are any gaps and missing years that may need paying.

You will need 35 years’ worth of full National Insurance contributions or credit for the years when you have been a mum or carer or travelled abroad and had gaps in your career… so you may have the chance to top up any periods you missed.

You will need your Government Gateway ID and National Insurance number if you haven’t looked before.

Here are the easy steps to take:
1. Visit: https://www.gov.uk/.../organ.../department-for-work-pensions
2. Click on ‘your state pension’
3. Click on ‘Check your State Pension forecast’
4. Click ‘START NOW’ you’ll need to prove your identity using Government Gateway.

You’ll be able to register for Government Gateway if you have not used it before.

The number of families claiming Child Benefit has fallen for the ninth year in a row, from a peak of 7.92m in August 2012 to 7.09m in August 2021.

Most child benefit claimants are women, so the drop in claimant numbers means mothers are now missing out on the vital National Insurance credits which they could receive by claiming Child Benefit.

Without these credits, women could be losing thousands of pounds in retirement income.

Many families may not realise that even if they do not want to risk facing a High Income Child Benefit Charge they can simply claim the NI credits without receiving child benefit itself.

Even if families realise that they have been missing out, HMRC will only allow claims to be backdated for three months.

This means that mothers could be missing out on many years of NI credits towards their state pension and may be too late to fix the problem.

Under the current state pension system, retiring women on average receives £164.74 per week compared to £170.50 for men.

If you have any concerns of your state pension… let us help you.