You may want to check over your financial records
A woman from Wales secured a huge uplift to her pension thanks to a Martin Lewis tip that applies to everyone. She was able to challenge her payouts and secure a 20 per cent uprating. Mr Lewis said it was a “brilliant example” of putting his principles into practice.
The woman from Buith Wells phoned into the BBC podcast to share her happy story. She previously worked as an NHS administrator, leaving her role back in 1992. Under the rules of her retirement scheme, her pension was meant to be based on her highest 12 months’ worth of pay during her final 36 months of service.
However, when she began claiming her pension in 2022, she suspected an error. The provider appeared to have calculated her payout using only her final 12 months of employment, resulting in a significantly lower sum than if the full 36-month window had been reviewed.
Pension challenge
When the pensioner first contacted her provider, officials assured her that the original calculation was correct. Refusing to accept the answer, she took the dispute to an appeal, where she was asked to submit proof of her historical earnings.
To gather evidence, she rummaged through a “box at the back of the wardrobe” and successfully located her original payslips covering 1990 to 1992. The documentation proved her case, forcing the provider to recalculate her entitlement and grant a 20 per cent uplift.
Martin Lewis celebrated the win, calling it a “wonderful” outcome that delivered “real money” back into the retiree’s pocket.
Keep your records
Mr Lewis used the success story to challenge standard guidance regarding personal record-keeping. He said: “People always ask me, ‘How long do you keep paperwork for?’ The sort of official rules are it’s four or six years depending on your circumstances.
“My answer is, you keep the important stuff forever. It doesn’t need to be paper, you just need to keep a record. You can take a photo of it, you can digitize it.”
Lewis warned that holding personal records is often the only defence consumers have against future administrative errors or systematic industry failures. He said: “We don’t know what the future mis-selling scandals will be, we don’t know what the future problems will be.”
Key paperwork to keep on file
To safeguard against future miscalculations, Mr Lewis advised keeping permanent digital or physical copies of key financial files, specifically:
- Payslips
- Bank statements
- Sign-up documents for new products
Building a personal archive can yield major financial benefits in the fullness of time. Mr Lewis said: “You just never know when it’s going to pay dividends later.”
