Martin Lewis issues warning to women over 66 after one person claims £17,000 from HMRC

Martin Lewis has urged thousands of older women to check if they’ve been underpaid their state pension – after one person received £17,000 in backdated pay.

The issue relates to people who were unknowingly not given the National Insurance credits they should have received when they were out of work and looking after their children. National Insurance credits can help to fill gaps in your National Insurance record, which determines how much state pension you’ll get in later life.

National Insurance credits were called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) up until 2010, and HRP reduced the number of qualifying years you need to claim the state pension for parents and carers. But in some cases, HRP is missing from some National Insurance records.

Those who are affected are mainly women who made a claim for Child Benefit between 1978 and 2000. HMRC has started writing to people who it believes could be owed money and says the average payout is £5,000. Discussing the issue on the Martin Lewis Money Show Live broadcast this evening, Martin shared one success story from Trevor.

Trevor explained how his wife received just under £17,000 back and will get higher state pension payments going forward. He said: “Following your show about Home Responsibilities, my wife claimed from 2007. Took some time but letter just received informing her she will receive just under £17,000 plus increased monthly payment. Thank you so much.”

Martin added: “If you were off work, looking after your children – it was mainly women in this period – hundreds of thousands of people were not given the National Insurance credits they should have got for looking after their children when they weren’t working. So that is what this is about.

“It effectively lifts the amount of state pension [the viewer] should have got and it’s been paid backdated, and there are a lot of people in that situation. Women aged over 66 should be looking at that, at the moment.”

It is estimated 210,000 people are affected, but of this amount, 60,000 are now thought to be deceased and 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 NI record. If not, then you may have missed out.

For those who reached pension age on or before April 5, 2010, HRP was recorded in a different way and you need to phone the NI helpline to check if there is HRP on your record. 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. To claim missing HRP up until March 2010, you need to fill in the form CF411.