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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Alex Evans & Alexander Smail

Martin Lewis fan gets £18,000 from DWP after following his advice

A Martin Lewis fan received £18,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions after following the financial expert's advice.

Lewis returned to host another episode of the The Martin Lewis Money Show earlier this week, in which he revealed a pension tax trick that thousands of people qualify for but are not aware of.

He stated that hundreds of thousands of people — primarily women — could be due at least £6,000 each, as reported by Yorkshire Live.

READ MORE — Mum who 'felt pure rage' over neighbour's parking spot called 'unreasonable'

Lewis's co-host Angelica Bell read an email sent in by a viewer out loud. It stated: "After watching your show on married women's state pension, I contacted the tax department and, although it did take about seven months, I received a cheque for £18,000. I was amazed as I never expected this amount!"

Lewis then proceeded to explain the specific circumstances that would lead to somebody being eligible for the money. He explained: "There are hundreds of thousands of, generally women, who are due at least £6,000 pension back.

"Married women and widows may have been underpaid, specifically women who hit state pension age before April 6, 2016.

"So that's people aged approximately 70 or older. And your basic state pension needed to be 60% of your husband's basic state pension and this is only for married couples."

He continued: "Now, you will get an automatic top up and it should be backdated. If your husband was 65 on or after March 17 2008, or you're a widow whose husband died after April 2008 and you're getting less than 60% of his pension.

"But you still need to claim. There are free tools online and you can call the pension service to do it. If you divorced after getting your state pension, and your pension is less than your ex-husband's, again you may be eligible.

"And there's a whole new category since I first did it. This can be a man as well, if you stay at home and look after the kids or you were a carer and you got the benefit for it, since April 1978 then if you don't get a full state pension then you may be entitled to a top up on that. As you've seen with Joan [the woman who received an £18,000 cheque], this is really big money."

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