THOUSANDS of mums are being urged to check their state pensions as a new payment error has been revealed.
Some women have gaps in their national insurance record because of time spent out of paid work while bringing up children.
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While there has been a system in place to help protect these parents since 1978, experts say the system has not been working as it should.
It means thousands of stay-at-home mums could be missing out on millions of pounds in underpaid state pensions.
The DWP’s annual report described the system, which was called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) before changing to tax credits, as the “second largest” source of error in state pensions.
Pensions expert Steve Webb has launched a campaign called Mothers Missing Millions to help the parent’s who are missing out on a fortune in state pensions rights because of the error.
Mr Webb said: “The DWP has admitted that even more people are being underpaid state pension than previously thought, with a whole new category of errors coming to light.
“Yet again, this error overwhelmingly affects women, and undoubtedly means that many thousands have been underpaid for years.”
Last year, State Pension errors meant retirees were underpaid by more than £1billion in total – with women being disproportionately affected.
The DWP annual report says it is working with HMRC to assess the scale of the problem with HRP.
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A government spokesman added: “This year we will spend over £110 billion on the State Pension and support over 12.5 million pensioners.
“We are investigating an issue with the historical recording of Home Responsibilities Protection, with work under way to identify those affected.”
The HRP error was first raised over a decade ago and the DWP paid out more than £80 million to over 30,000 mothers.
But the most recent annual report, published this summer, has uncovered the fact that there are still mothers missing out.
Mr Webb says he has been contacted by a dozen women in recent months who were told they were entitled to nothing, when in reality, they were owed thousands.
What do I need to do now?
Former pensions minister Mr Webb said anyone who has received child benefit since 1978 should check their National Insurance record.
If the payment is missing, there is a form that can be filled in to get the information added to your record.
It is called a CF411 form and it can be found on the government’s website.
You can also contact the HMRC National Insurance helpline for an application form.
Your state pension will then be automatically recalculated and the arrears will be paid.
You can still apply for HRP if, for the full tax years (April to April) between 1978 and 2010, if 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
- caring for a sick or disabled person
Any HRP you had before April 6, 2021, have converted to National Insurance credits.
You must have reached State Pension age on or after April 6 for these credits to go towards your pension.
Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) explained
HRP was a scheme to protect parents’ and carers’ State Pension.
National Insurance credits replaced HRP in 2010.
Most people got HRP automatically if they were getting child benefit in their name for a child under the age of 16 and they had given the child benefit office their National Insurance number.
If you think you may be entitled, but you have questions, the Pension Service can be reached using the gov.uk website or by calling 0800 731 0469.
The government recently revealed that there are further errors that could have left people underpaid their state pensions.
It detailed six new scenarios where the calculations were incorrect since 2007 – check them here.
Meanwhile the government has launched a new online tool for relatives of someone who has died and might have been underpaid the state pension.
