HMRC has said the average payouts are £8,377 after an error in records left mainly mums missing out
Pension experts have said that anyone who had children from 1978 to 2010 could be in line for payouts of £8,377 on average. Pension reclaim specialist AskRose, which is supporting around 100,000 women potentially affected, says dozens of its own clients have died since starting a claim.
If a person took time off work or reduced hours to look after children or someone with a long-term illness or disability between 1978 and 2010, a scheme called Home Responsibilities Protection was meant to protect their state pension. Historic HMRC errors mean thousands of women never got that protection recorded correctly, because National Insurance records weren’t always properly linked to Child Benefit or Family Allowance claims.
That leaves HMRC and DWP unable to identify everyone affected, which is why people are being asked to check their own records rather than wait to be contacted. Official HMRC figures show the average payout is £8,377. Officials have send out more than 370,000 letters to people potentially impacted.
The government has previously said: “Home Responsibilities Protection was a scheme that ran between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 2010 which reduced the number of qualifying years of National Insurance contributions a person with caring responsibilities needed to receive the full basic State Pension.
“The government reported the findings of its investigations into some missing historical periods of Home Responsibilities Protection in some individuals’ records, and the associated impact on State Pension awards, in the Department for Work and Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 [HC 1455]. The main cause of the issue was that NI numbers were not always recorded when customers claimed Child Benefit before 2000. The government has estimated that around 210,000 individuals may have been affected by missing periods of Home Responsibilities Protection.
“HMRC and DWP are working together to correct cases as quickly as possible. HMRC started contacting potentially impacted customers from September 2023, prioritising those above State Pension age.”
In terms of checking if you are eligible people need to have been receiving your state pension for at least a full year before an underpayment can be checked, which with the current pension age of 66 means you need to be 67 or over. Having had children in that window isn’t enough on its own. The protection applied specifically to people who reduced work or gave it up to provide care, so if your National Insurance contributions were recorded correctly throughout, you won’t be eligible..
HMRC’s own attempt to contact affected pensioners in 2023 saw a response rate of just eight per cent, and advisers warn some claimants have died before their case was resolved.
Elaine Walker, Director of AskRose, says the human cost of delay has been significant. She said: “In the time it has taken to open this process up, too many of our clients have sadly passed away before being able to claim the money they were owed. They were left, in some cases, for more than 15 years without a fair pension and were then unable to even enjoy getting their recompense.”
In terms of the free check, the government has said: “To correct this issue, potentially impacted customers will be invited to check their eligibility and make an application to HMRC for Home Responsibilities Protection. To help individuals determine their eligibility, a self-identification tool is available on GOV.UK. Where an application is successful, those with a State Pension impact will have their award corrected and any arrears paid. HMRC and DWP will also trigger a wider communications campaign working with key stakeholders and representative bodies to ensure that all those who may be eligible are aware of this.
“Before making an application, people can learn more about Home Responsibilities Protection, check the eligibility criteria and find the application form online at www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp/eligibility. Customers under State Pension age can check their National Insurance and State Pension forecasts online at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension.”
You could qualify if you:
- Claimed Child Benefit for a child under 16.
- Were a partner of someone who claimed Child Benefit while you were the main carer.
- Received Income Support as a carer.
- Looked after someone who was sick or disabled and receiving certain benefits.
Once a claim is passed to HMRC and the DWP, processing typically takes around four to six months.
