Did you take time off work between 1978 and 2010 to look after children?

Many women are missing Home Responsibilities Protection and are due £1,000s

From 1978 to 2010, the Government had a system in place to protect State Pension entitlement for those who didn't earn enough to accrue a State Pension through paid work. This was mainly women who took time off work to look after their children, or to care for someone with a long-term medical condition.

It was called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), and it reduced the number of years of National Insurance (NI) credits you needed to get a full State Pension. It should have been given automatically to those claiming Child Benefit, or those who'd received Income Support throughout a full tax year while they were caring for a person with a disability or long-term illness.

But the system was beset with errors, and more than 100,000 who cared for children ended up with gaps in their NI records that shouldn't be there. Those affected are already being underpaid State Pension – or could be in future.

Watch Martin’s 1-min video to see if this impacts you – if so get full help below

(Courtesy of the BBC's 'The Martin Lewis Podcast')

You're more likely to be affected if the following apply:

• You're currently aged between 41 and 90, though this issue mainly affects women in their 60s and 70s.
  AND

• You took time away from paid work to look after a child or a person with a long-term disability or illness at any point between 1978 and 2010.
  AND

• You claimed Child Benefit or Income Support for the first time before May 2000.
  OR

• Your partner claimed Child Benefit, but you stayed at home to look after a child or person with a long-term health condition at any point between 1978 and 2010. Before 2000, HRP was only credited to the mother unless she opted to transfer it to her partner.
  OR

• You didn't include your National Insurance number on your claim.

As an example of how it worked in practice: say you needed 30 years of NI credits to qualify for full State Pension, but took five years off work in the 1980s to look after your child, HRP should have ensured you'd only need 25 years of NI credits to get the full State Pension amount (see more on how your entitlement to the State Pension is calculated).

How do I check if I'm missing Home Responsibilities Protection?

If you're not sure if you're being paid the right amount of state pension, there are a few checks you can do:

1. Check your State Pension forecast or statement. You can find your State Pension forecast on the Gov.uk website, or you can call the Future Pension Centre, who will be able to post a copy of your forecast (you'll need your National Insurance number to hand when you call).

2. If you're not getting a full State Pension – or your forecast says you're not on track to get a full State Pension – the next step is to check your National Insurance record for gaps. You can do this online on the Gov.uk website, or you can call up the National Insurance Helpline on 0300 200 3500.

3. If there are gaps in your record during the years 1978 to 2010, and these were years that you took off work to care for a child or someone with a long-term health condition, you may be missing Home Responsibilities Protection. Find out how to apply.

It might also be useful to check your Child Benefit records (if you took time off to care for a child). If your partner received the Child Benefit but you stayed at home, you may not have received HRP. You can contact the Child Benefit Office to confirm who the recipient was. 

How to apply for missing Home Responsibilities Protection

HMRC was sending letters to those likely to be affected by missing Home Responsibilities Protection, though the last should have been received by June 2025. However, according to HMRC, many people didn't act on the letter, perhaps thinking it was a scam or that they didn't need to take action.

However, you can still claim if you think you're eligible for HRP, even if you don't have the letter. You can either:

• Use the Government's online service, or

• Fill out and post this form to apply for HRP

If you do still have a letter but are unsure whether it's genuine or not, you can find guidance on the Gov.uk website. The letter will contain information on how to check whether you're getting the right State Pension amount, and how to make a claim for HRP.

You might need to provide extra information

As part of your claim, you may need to provide 'evidence' of your caring responsibilities during the period of time you believe you're missing HRP for:

• If you're missing HRP from a period of time you were caring for a child, you should send details of the child or children you looked after.

• If you are/were a carer for a sick or disabled person, you need to send evidence showing the allowance or benefits the person you cared for were paid during the period you were caring for them. The evidence must show that the allowance or benefit was paid to cover at least 48 weeks of each year for which you’re claiming Home Responsibilities Protection.

• If you are/were a foster or kinship carer, and weren't claiming Child Benefit, you can apply for HRP for time you took off to care for a child between 2003 and 2010. You'll need to send a copy of a letter of confirmation from the local authority or fostering agency with your application.

HMRC will then update your National Insurance record if you're entitled.

I've reached State Pension age and found out I've been underpaid, will I get any backdating?

If you discover any HRP or NI credits missing – and you've already reached State Pension age – the DWP will be notified, your State Pension will be reassessed and any backdated payments will be paid to you.

These payments can be very large, as Cilla found out: "I've just received 15 years' back pay from HMRC of £31,674 for underpayment of my pension. Thank you."