Thousands of people could have missed out on payments towards their state pension.
Parents and carers who took time off work to look after children before 2010 may not have received all of the state pension payments they were owed.
This is due to gaps in their National Insurance records – and only about 12,300 people have received their back payments.
The gap in payments has been linked to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) – Metro explains what that is and how to find out if you’re due some cash.
What is Home Responsibilities Protection?
HRP was designed to help parents and carers build up their state pensions while out of work to look after children or disabled adults.
The scheme was in place between 1978 and 2010.
HRP was replaced by National Insurance credits in 2010, which automatically protect state pension entitlement if you claim child benefit and provide your NI number.
What caused the error and how has it been fixed?
These credits weren’t properly recorded on people’s National Insurance records in many cases – especially if child benefit claims made before May 2000 didn’t include a NI number.
This means some people may now be receiving a smaller state pension than they should – and the impact is mainly being felt by women.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are working together to try and fix the problem.
They are identifying people affected by missing HRP credits and updating their National Insurance records, so their state pension can be recalculated.
In its 2024 annual report, the DWP estimated about 194,000 could be affected by the HRP error.
It set aside £1.15billion to try and fix the problem.
As of March 31 of this year, a total of 12,379 people have been repaid an average of £8,377.
Why haven’t eligible people claimed back their cash?
Letters have been sent out to people who are already over the state pension age, while HMRC continues to contact others who might be eligible.
The government thinks it could take until 2027-8 to fully reimburse everyone who is owed money.
Very few people who have received a letter about the error have gone on to make claims – and the government found many of those didn’t understand the letters or recognise the term HRP.
Others were worried the letter could be a scam, and some found the online process of claiming difficult to navigate.
How do you check if you’re eligible?
There are plenty of eligible people who simply assumed they would not be eligible for the cash.
If you’re unsure, you should use the gov.uk online checker to find out.
You don’t have to have received a letter to check your record.
If you are eligible, HMRC will update your record and the DWP will recalculate how much state pension you are entitled to.
Those already over state pension age and unable to apply online should call the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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