Irish people who have previously worked in Britain have been urged to top up their British pension ahead of a looming deadline. 

In last year’s budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the cost of buying a year’s Voluntary National Insurance contribution from the British Treasury would rise from an average of £200 to £1,200 in April 2016. 

People need 35 years worth of contributions to qualify for a full British pension, but anyone with at least 10 contributions qualifies for a reduced sum. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, pension expert John Ring explained why paying an annual sum to qualify for a British pension is “phenomenal” value for money. 

 “Essentially, if you're in the UK, you would typically have to pay what's known as the Class 3 rate or €1,000 per year to buy a year,” he said. 

“So, the idea with this is that you need 35 years of national insurance contributions - either paid or from your time working in Britain or up North - in order to maximise your UK state pension, which is worth about €14,000 annually.” 

A pensioner holding leather wallet with money in it. Picture by: Alamy.com.

At present a person who previously worked in Britain can claim back six years in one go. 

Meaning anyone who wishes to claim six years worth of stamps would presently pay £1,200. 

However, not everyone who previously worked in the United Kingdom qualifies. 

“You must have one full year of work in the UK on the books,” Mr Ring said. 

“So, if you were over there for a couple of summers, in total a year, that wouldn't work, unfortunately.”

Even once the cost of paying a Voluntary National Insurance contribution rises later this year, Mr Ring urged people who have previously worked in the United Kingdom to keep paying them. 

Despite the extra cost, he believes it still represents exceptional value for money. 

“For every year that you either have or that you buy, it's worth €400 each and every year to you in retirement,” he said. 

“So, if you had one year on your national insurance record, you're going to get €400 each and every year from age 67 - approximately. 

“If you had two years, you're going to get €800 and so on all the way up to 35 years - in which case you'd be getting approximately €14,000.

“It's still essentially a no-brainer versus paying for a private pension, for example, because the return that you get is phenomenal.”

Main image: A pensioner with cash in hand. Picture by: Alamy.com.