Home Responsibilities Protection allowed parents and carers to build up their entitlement to the state pension when they had to take time off work to look after children or other family members.
HMRC has urged thousands of older Brits to check if they’ve been underpaid their state pension following a major administrative error.
The issue affects people who may be missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) on their National Insurance record. HPR allowed parents and carers to build up their entitlement to the state pension when they had to take time off work to look after children or other family members.
However, an error was uncovered that revealed Child Benefit claim forms submitted before 2000 did not include a National Insurance number. This means the relevant HRP may not have been carried across correctly in the case of thousands of people.
Have you been underpaid the state pension? Let us know: levi.winchester@reachplc.com
If the correct HRP is missing from your record, you could be due a higher level of state pension payment than what you’re currently receiving. HRP reduced the number of qualifying years you need to claim the state pension. It was replaced by National Insurance credits in 2010.
In a post written on X, formerly called Twitter, HMRC urged older Brits to check if they’ve been affected. HMRC said: “If you claimed Child Benefit before May 2000, you may be missing Home Responsibility Protection (HRP) from your National Insurance record. Claiming now may increase your State Pension. Complete our eligibility checker and see if you can claim.”
If you’re affected by this error, you could be owed an average of £5,000, with the DWP expecting to pay out more than £1billion in arrears. HMRC is in the process of tracking down more than 180,000 pensioners who may have been underpaid – but it is estimated 43,000 of those affected are now deceased. In this case, their family will be able to make a claim for any money owed.
How do I check if I’ve been underpaid?
The main rules for qualifying for a year of HRP from 1978 are:
-
You had to be receiving child benefit in your own name (not that of a spouse or partner)
-
Your child was under 16 for the whole of the financial year in question
-
You were not paying the married woman’s ‘reduced stamp’
If you suspect you have missed out, you should first check your state pension and your National Insurance record. For those who reached pension age after April 5, 2010, any year of HRP/credits should be showing as a complete year on your National Insurance record. If not, then you may have missed out. The Government has also created an online checker tool on GOV.UK to see if you’re likely to be eligible to make a claim.
