Martin Lewis urges grandparents to claim free £303 DWP pay out

State pensioners with grandkids, it's time to step up and claim your dues – there's a £303 boost waiting for you. Grandparents putting in the hours babysitting can bag an extra £303 on their State Pension from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Lending a hand with the kids under 12 while their parents are working could mean you're eligible for these 'specified adult childcare credits' to beef up your NI record. Right now, bagging an additional National Insurance credit could mean your full New State Pension gets a healthy annual bump of about £303.

After money-saving expert Martin Lewis shed light on this gem, one grandparent told the BBC and ITV money man: "Martin, I can't thank you enough for this.

This describes our circumstances perfectly. My wife retired five years early to help with our young grandchildren. "She was four years short of full state pension. We will now save £3,000 from not having to buy the missing years."

So if you're a grandparent – or any other family member – who's been taking care of a little one under 12, get on this scheme pronto, reports Birmingham Live.

Even if those babysitting days are behind you or the kids are now over 12, don't worry; you might be able to apply retroactively all the way back to 2011. And you can throw your hat in the ring if you were between 16 and the state pension age when you were giving that childcare help to your kin.

The current state pension age stands at 66 for both men and women, though it could vary based on your age. Child benefit is key as it grants the parent NI credits if they're out of work or earning under £123 weekly.

MSE issued a caution, stating: "Specified adult childcare credits can only be received for periods when the child you were looking after was registered for child benefit."

They also advised: "However, if the unregistered child is then registered – and you are still meeting the conditions for specified adult childcare credits – their child benefit claim can be backdated by three months, which in turn means your claim for NI childcare credits can be backdated by the same amount of time."