Money Saving Expert Recommends Claiming Carers Benefit If You Want a Pension?

Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert, revealed some Britons could be missing out on a key benefit-not applying for it could reduce your pension.

The benefit is for carers, and during an appearance on This Morning, Martin explained: “It’s Carers’ Week, and new figures out from the Department for Work and Pensions estimate that over 90 per cent of the 250,000 eligible unpaid carers are putting their full state pension at risk by not claiming carer's credit.

“That’s because to get your full state pension, you need at least 35 national insurance years, but if you’re struggling to make this up, because you’ve had to give up work to care for someone, you can claim carer’s credit, which effectively tops up your national insurance record, so you get a pension when you retire. To be eligible you need to be caring for 20 to 35 hours a week.

“There’s also a separate carer’s allowance, which is for full-time carers (35+ hours a week) and where the person you’re looking after gets certain benefits too.

“Here instead of NI years you get weekly payments of up to £62.70/week depending on your situation