In a post on X, the financial expert said that anyone who had children between 1978 and 2010 might be owed more than £10,000 in backdated tax refunds.
“State Pension error! Did you take time off work (1978 to 2010) to look after children or someone with long term disability? You could be owed £10,000s,” he wrote.
At one point, HMRC, the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority, was going through National Insurance records and contacting individuals who are eligible for Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) between 1978 and 2010. But according to Lewis, this process is no longer taking place.
“In brief: 100,000s wrongly have Nat Insurance gaps that reduce your State Pension as they should’ve got ‘Home Responsibilities Protection’,” he wrote on X.
“The Govt was contacting people, but isn’t any longer. Thus the onus is on YOU to proactively check.”
James Murray, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, has reiterated Lewis’ findings.
“The State Pension is the foundation of state support for people in retirement,” he said. “We are urging people to check their National Insurance records to make sure they will receive the pension they deserve.”
Who is eligible for the State Pension Home Responsibilities Protection refund?
Individuals may be able to apply for HRP for the tax years between 1978 and 2010 if they meet the following criteria:
- Caring for a child aged under 16 with a partner you lived with, if they claimed Child Benefit instead of you
- Caring for a sick or disabled person
You can apply for tax years between 2003 and 2010, if you were:
- 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 the full tax years before April 6 2010 will be converted into National Insurance credits, up to a maximum of 22 qualifying years.
How much could you claim in backdated pension payments?
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it has short-changed pensioners between £300m and £1.5billion in state pension due to faults with the HRP recording.
Robson Laidler, an accounting and business advisors firm, said individuals may be owed an average of around £5,000. Lewis cited one woman who received £31,674 in back pay.
How to check your National Insurance record and claim what you’re owed
According to Money Saving Expert, if you think you may be eligible for a refund, there are a few things you should check:
- Check our State Pension forecast or statement. You can find this on the Gov.uk website, or you can call the Future Pension Centre who can post it to you (you’ll need to know your National Insurance when you call).
- Check your National Insurance record for gaps. If you’re not receiving a full State Pension or your forecast says you’re not on track to get a full State Pension, the next step is checking your National Insurance record for gaps. You can do this online via the Gov.uk website or you can call up the National Insurance Helpline on 0300 200 3500.
- Consider applying for HRP. If there are gaps in your record during the years 1978 to 2010, and you took time off work to care for a child or someone with a long-term health condition, during this time, you may be missing Home Responsibilities Protection.
The next step is completing form CF411 ‘application form Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP)’. You can contact HMRC here for more information.