Parents in Norfolk could be missing out on pension payments

As part of Pensions Awareness week, HMRC urged parents to check their National Insurance (NI) record for gaps to ensure they are not missing out on the payments.  

Those affected are mainly women at, or approaching, state pension age, who claimed child benefit before 2000.

​Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) was applied to the NI records of parents who claimed child benefit between 1978 and 2000, to protect their state pension.

HRP may increase people's state pension payments (Image: HMRC) It reduced the number of qualifying years a person with caring responsibilities needed to receive the full basic state pension before being replaced by NI credits in 2010.

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However, if someone claimed child benefit before May 2000 and did not provide their NI Number on their claim, HRP may not have been applied and their state pension entitlement could have been affected. 

If people are missing HRP from their NI record, it doesn’t automatically mean their state pension calculation is incorrect, but it does increase the possibility.

HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions are working to identify those people affected and encourage them to make a claim for HRP so their records can be amended.

People can check their eligibility and make a claim on GOV.UK and it takes about 15 minutes to complete. It is also possible to claim by post using form CF411.

HMRC has already written to 257,000 pensioners who could have HRP missing from their NI record and is now contacting those under state pension age to encourage them to use their eligibility checker.

Customers do not need to wait for the letter before they make a claim and can check their NI record online or via the free and secure HMRC app.