Savers with holes in their state pension records are being stonewalled by staff in three separate Government departments, who have all refused to help them.

After we revealed a mystery ‘glitch’ in the state pension system, many readers got in touch to say their valuable National Insurance credits were missing – contradicting the Government which had told us there was no indication of a wider issue.

Eamon Campbell, pictured right, turned 66 in February and is two years short of getting a full state pension due to missing credits.

A 20-month period when he claimed universal credit during the pandemic was not updated, and he has been unable to buy top-ups to fill in the few remaining gaps in those years.

Lost NI credits can mean pensioners face shortfalls in retirement unless they notice and get them fixed.

The Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC failed to explain the cause of the problem in Mr Campbell’s case or the others flagged by us.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘The vast majority of National Insurance credits relating to benefit claims are added to a person’s account automatically.

‘We also conduct a comprehensive review of a person’s National Insurance record before they reach retirement age to ensure these credits are present and therefore reflected in any state pension award.’

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb is demanding the Government ‘come clean’ on what is going wrong and when it will be fixed.

‘Anyone who tries to get to the bottom of this gets driven from pillar to post and struggles to get a straight answer,’ he says.

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