My wife has a final-salary NHS pension of over thirty years, but has
been seeking to 'fill in' a few missing years (when she had to switch
to a private pension) by buying extra years ahead of her retirement.
She was advised to do this by several people (though none, as far as
I'm aware, were professional pension advisors) and has currently bought
back approximately three years at a cost of around £250 per month.

However, after a recent conversation with someone working in local
government (also with a final-salary pension), we have begun to
question the wisdom of this, given that her employers don't contribute
to these extra years as they do with her normal pension contributions.

Can anyone advise us on this? Is it worth buying back missing years or
could the £250 a month be better invested elsewhere? Neither of us are
particularly clued up when it comes to pensions, so any impartial
advice would be gratefully received...

Nigel