Latest news with #HomeResponsibilitiesProtection
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
DWP update over £8,300 state pension boost as all claimants will get this letter
The DWP state pension letters go out at a certain time of year State pensioners have been encouraged to look out for some vital information in a DWP letter. The issue relates to a historical underpayments issue with the average person affected owed over £8,300. HMRC and DWP were asked to provide an update on their efforts to reach out to those affected by the missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) issue, which has resulted in thousands being underpaid their state pension. The problem mostly impacts women, as HRP was a historical DWP scheme that covered a person's National Insurance (NI) contributions while they were not working due to caring for children or a disabled adult. However, administrative blunders meant many individuals did not have HRP applied, resulting in their state pension entitlement being less than it should have been. HRP was in operation from 1978 to 2010, but anyone who claimed the support after 2000 will not have been affected, as NI numbers were required on applications from this year onwards. A Government spokesperson recently said in an update: "We're determined to help people who've been left out of pocket due to historical errors which are no fault of their own. That's why we wrote to more than 370,000 people potentially affected, and launched an online tool to help people check if they can claim. "We ran an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record." Ministers have pledged to push on with their efforts to increase awareness among those who may have been affected. The spokesperson explained: "The Government will continue to signpost people to where they can find out more information about HRP and to the support we have available, via ongoing communications activity. For example, DWP now includes information on HRP in annual state pension uprating letters." State pension rates go up each April from the start of the new tax year, from April 6. Letters are dispatched around this time to inform people about the increase in their DWP and HMRC benefits. The Government said that the average arrears payments due to the HRP issue stood at £8,377 as of March 2025. Anyone who believes HRP is missing from their NI record can apply for it to be added online. Once this application has been received, HMRC will determine the number of years of NI that should be added to the record, and then the DWP will apply this to your state pension eligibility and decide if this will affect your payment rates. If you apply for HRP and you disagree with the decision, you will either need to contact the DWP or HMRC. You should contact the DWP if the issue relates to your state pension amount and you should contact to HMRC if it relates to your NI record.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
HMRC update on letters going out over state pension back payments worth £8,300
The tax authority said it will continue in its efforts to raise awareness of the issue HMRC has spoken out about its campaign to contact people who could be owed thousands of pounds in state pension payments. The group has been writing to people who may have been underpaid due to missing Home Responsibilities Protection from their National Insurance record. The average arrears payment was £8,377, as of March 2025. Consumer advocate Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, recently urged people to check if they were owed cash because of the issue, particularly as HMRC has now stopped writing to people who may be affected. HMRC was asked for an update on its work to contact those who may have been affected. A government spokesperson said: "We're determined to help people who've been left out of pocket due to historical errors which are no fault of their own. "That's why we wrote to more than 370,000 people potentially affected, and launched an online tool to help people check if they can claim. "We ran an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record." What was the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme? Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) was a scheme that ran from 1978 to 2010. It was designed to make sure your National Insurance (NI) contributions were added to your record, which helps build up your state pension entitlement, in cases where a person was out of working caring for a child or for a sick or disabled person. In some cases, HRP was missing from people's records, meaning their NI contributions and subsequent state pension payments were lower than they should have been. This issue mostly affects women who took time out of work to raise their children, but anyone who otherwise cared for a person during this period could be affected. If you think you were missing HRP, you can apply for it to be added to your record on the Government website. HMRC was also asked to explain what happens when HRP is added to someone's NI record. The group said: "If someone has a period of HRP added as a result of an application, first HMRC will determine the number of years of National Insurance that should be added to their record. " DWP will then apply this to the individual's state pension eligibility and determine what impact (if any) it will have on their state pension payments." If you apply for HRP and you disagree with the decision and how it affects your state pension, if the dispute relates to the number of years on your record, you should contact HMRC. If the issue relates to your state pension entitlement, you should contact DWP.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
HRMC update on letters going out over state pension back payments worth £8,300
The tax authority said it will continue in its efforts to raise awareness of the issue HMRC has spoken out about its campaign to contact people who could be owed thousands of pounds in state pension payments. The group has been writing to people who may have been underpaid due to missing Home Responsibilities Protection from their National Insurance record. The average arrears payment was £8,377, as of March 2025. Consumer advocate Martin Lewis, founder of Money Saving Expert, recently urged people to check if they were owed cash because of the issue, particularly as HMRC has now stopped writing to people who may be affected. HMRC was asked for an update on its work to contact those who may have been affected. A government spokesperson said: "We're determined to help people who've been left out of pocket due to historical errors which are no fault of their own. "That's why we wrote to more than 370,000 people potentially affected, and launched an online tool to help people check if they can claim. "We ran an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record." What was the Home Responsibilities Protection scheme? Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) was a scheme that ran from 1978 to 2010. It was designed to make sure your National Insurance (NI) contributions were added to your record, which helps build up your state pension entitlement, in cases where a person was out of working caring for a child or for a sick or disabled person. In some cases, HRP was missing from people's records, meaning their NI contributions and subsequent state pension payments were lower than they should have been. This issue mostly affects women who took time out of work to raise their children, but anyone who otherwise cared for a person during this period could be affected. If you think you were missing HRP, you can apply for it to be added to your record on the Government website. HMRC was also asked to explain what happens when HRP is added to someone's NI record. The group said: "If someone has a period of HRP added as a result of an application, first HMRC will determine the number of years of National Insurance that should be added to their record. " DWP will then apply this to the individual's state pension eligibility and determine what impact (if any) it will have on their state pension payments." If you apply for HRP and you disagree with the decision and how it affects your state pension, if the dispute relates to the number of years on your record, you should contact HMRC. If the issue relates to your state pension entitlement, you should contact DWP.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Martin Lewis says people who had children in 32-year period could be entitled to £10,000 or more
HMRC had been sending letters to people who had children between 1978 and 2010 due to the error - not they have to check themselves Martin Lewis has issued a warning to anyone who had children during a 32-year period that they could be entitled to £10,000 or more in backdated tax payments due to an administrative blunder. The money-saving guru said people could be in line for enormous payouts - with one individual telling him she received £31,000. Posting on X last month, Mr Lewis declared: "State Pension error! Did you take time off wor k (1978 to 2010) to look after children or someone with long term disability? You could be owed £10,000s." He explained: "In brief: 100,000s wrongly have Nat Insurance gaps that reduce your State Pension as they should've got 'Home Responsibilities Protection'. The Govt was contacting people, but isn't any longer. Thus the onus is on YOU to proactively check." His intervention comes after HMRC ceased writing to potential victims, meaning individuals must now pursue claims independently. He explained: " This is about a state pension error. The reason that I'm doing it now is not because it's new - it isn't new - this has been around for quite a long time and the government were contacting the potentially hundreds of thousands of primarily women aged between 41 and 90 - it isn't only women it's primarily women and it'll generally be of that age. "They could be the victim of a state pension error that could mean they're owed a fortune. The government was contacting them but then Steve Webb former pensions minister got in touch with us, with me, and said 'they've stopped contacting them - they're no longer trying to rectify this'." Mr Lewis shared: "Cilla emailed us, "I've just received 15yrs' back pay from HMRC of £31,674 for underpayment of my pension. Thank you." HMRC is utilising National Insurance (NI) records to identify as many individuals as possible who might have been eligible for HRP between 1978 and 2010 and have no HRP on their NI record, sending out some correspondence. Accountants Robson Laidler have stated that individuals could be owed an average of £5,000 in backdated payments. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates it has underpaid between £300m and £1.5billion of state pension due to mistakes with the recording of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP). HRP was a system created to help safeguard parents' and carers' entitlement to the State Pension and was superseded by NI credits from April 6, 2010. HMRC is trawling through National Insurance (NI) records to pinpoint individuals who might have been entitled to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) from 1978 to 2010 but don't have it on their record, and they're sending out letters to those affected. A spokesperson from Robson Laidler mentioned: "It is estimated tens of thousands of people are due an average of £5,000 in back payments. HMRC and DWP are also conducting a wider campaign to ensure that everyone who may be eligible is aware of the corrections exercise." HM Revenue and Customs has stated: "HMRC will send you a letter if we think you may have missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP). We want to help you make sure you receive the right amount of State Pension, so we're asking you to check if you were eligible for HRP between 1978 and 2010. You may have been eligible if you received Child Benefit for a child under 16." They added, "The letter will tell you how you can check if you're eligible to claim missing Home Responsibilities Protection and how to make a claim." Could a Missing HRP Record Affect Your State Pension? If HRP is missing from someone's NI record, it does not necessarily mean that their State Pension calculation is wrong, but it could be, especially if they took significant time-out from employment to raise a family. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury has stated: ' The State Pension is the foundation of state support for people in retirement. We are urging people to check their National Insurance records to make sure they will receive the pension they deserve.' Limited Records and Ongoing Repayments Unfortunately, HMRC delete child benefit claims after 5 years so they do not actually know who may be affected, they are contacting people who they think may be affected. Permanent Secretary, Peter Schofield has confirmed that the DWP has already paid out over £700 million and that the team are making good progress, despite a slow rate of individuals approaching the department about this issue. A Robson Laidler spokesperson said: "We would therefore advise checking your own NI records rather than waiting for a letter from DWP / HMRC to arrive. There is no time limit for applying for HRP if it has not been awarded. "Anyone who may have claimed Child Benefit before May 2000, when it was not mandatory to provide your National Insurance Number on your claim, may not have the correct number of years for State Pension purposes on their NI record, if you first made a claim after May 2000, you will not be affected." How to Check and Apply Before you start the online HRP check you will be asked if you have gaps in your National Insurance record. If you cannot find your National Insurance record online or do not know the answers to any of the questions, you can choose 'Do not know' and you'll be told how to get this information. Should you need to apply for HRP, or if you believe your record to be incorrect you should fill in form CF411 'application form Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP)'. For more information or advice about your HRP application, you should contact HMRC here. Who can apply You may still be able to apply for HRP if, for full tax years (6 April to 5 April) between 1978 and 2010, you were either: sharing the care of a child under 16 with a partner you lived with and they claimed Child Benefit instead of you - you may be able to transfer their HRP caring for a sick or disabled person Article continues below You can also apply if, for a full tax year between 2003 and 2010, you were either: a foster carer caring for a friend or family member's child ('kinship carer') in Scotland If you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010 Any HRP you had for full tax years before 6 April 2010 was automatically converted into National Insurance credits, if you needed them, up to a maximum of 22 qualifying years.
Daily Record
30-07-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Parents who took time off work to look after kids 'could be owed thousands'
Martin Lewis has warned a certain group of people that they could be owed 'thousands,' and there's a way to check online whether you could be owed money as part of a scheme Martin Lewis has shared that if you're a parent who took time off to look after your children between certain dates you could be owed "thousands". He revealed "the decades-old error that could mean you're owed" the money, explaining what happened on ITV's This Morning. Some have hailed Martin Lewis a "saint" for sharing this information far and wide. The money expert explained that this information "primarily impacts women," but he did say it wasn't "solely women," but whoever is impacted will be between "the ages of 41 and 90". He did say, however, that "most generally they'll be in their 60s and 70s, but it could be of any age". He said: "It's those who took time away from paid work to look after their child or look after someone with a long-term disability or illness between 1978 and 2010. "But they also needed to have been claiming child benefit before May 2000, which is why we tend to be talking women in their 60s and 70s because they fit that age profile. "Or your partner could've claimed child benefit but you were then the one staying at home". Martin then went on to explain that there was a "thing called Home Responsibilities Protection," and he said: "What this did is, if you stopped working to look after your child or someone who was sick, it gave you the National Insurance contributions that you would've otherwise got from working. "And National Insurance Contributions are what's needed for you to get the full state pension. So there could be many women who are not getting the full state pension, because they should've got Home Responsibilities Protection, and they didn't get it because of an error". He continued: "So, this is what you need to do. If all of those things ring true - you took time off between 1978 and 2010, you claimed child benefit before 2000, you need to go onto You need to check your state pension forecast. "If you're not forecast to get a full state pension when you hit retirement age, then you need to go and look have you got any missing National Insurance years. "If those years are missing at the same time that you were off work to pay for the childcare or for the long-term, then you were probably due Home Responsibilities Protection and you need to go and check that". Martin then said that he was going to be "really honest," saying it's a "bit too complicated to do on the telly," referring to it as a "clarion call". "If that all rings a bell, go and look it up," he urged. In the comments, someone wrote: "What about if your national insurance contributions are missing after those dates - because you chose to not work so that you could look after your children?" Another replied: "Then there will be a shortfall in your pension, one would presume". Others said they found it "impossible" to fill in the form as they wanted precise dates when they were off work.
