Older people warned to check for missing pension funds due to major home responsibilities protection error

Hundreds of thousands of older Brits may be owed up to £5,000 each because of a major administrative error around home responsibilities protection (HRP).

If you were part of the scheme, read on to find out how to check if your pension’s been affected.

What is home responsibilities protection?

Home responsibilities protection ran between 1978 and 2010, helping those who took time off work to care for children or other family members.

Through the scheme, parents and carers could build up their entitlement to the state pension while they were out of the workforce looking after loved ones.

Here’s a quick overview of how it works:

• HRP was available to parents and guardians who received child benefit.
• It lowered the number of qualifying years needed to claim the state pension.
• In 2010, HRP was replaced by national insurance credits.

What’s the error?

HMRC’s investigation revealed that child benefit claim forms submitted before May 2000 may not have included a national insurance number.

This means many people haven’t receive the correct HRP, which could mean their state pension ended up being lower than what they were entitled.

The oversight could mean a significant financial loss for many families.

Who is affected?

HMRC is currently reaching out to over 180,000 pensioners who may have been underpaid due to this error.

Around 43,000 of these individuals have died, but their families can still make claims for any money owed.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) anticipates paying out more than £1bn in arrears as a result of this situation.

How much could you be owed?

If you’ve been affected by this error, you could be due an average of £5,000 in back payments.

So it’s worth checking if you’re owed any money, as it could significantly increase your pension.

How to check if you’ve been underpaid

To find out whether you are missing out on HRP, follow these steps:

1. Review your state pension details and your national insurance record.
2. Check if you claimed child benefit in your name before May 2000.
3. Confirm that your child was under 16 for the entire financial year in question.
4. Make sure you were not paying the married woman’s ‘reduced stamp’ during that time.

If you reached pension age after 5 April 2010, any year of HRP or credits should appear as a complete year on your national insurance record.

If it doesn’t, you may have missed out on vital protection for your pension.

Are you getting all the support you qualify for?

Use our free online benefits calculator to check whether you’re getting all the help you’re entitled to.