More women could be missing out on state pension payments

MSE_Clare

More retirees, mainly women, may have been underpaid the state pension if they were out of work for any period since 1978 due to raising a family. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) highlighted this latest error in its July 2022 annual report. Here's how to check if you're affected and let us know your experience with this issue and any successes.

Sipowicz

Where's the link?

t0rt0ise

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/09/more-women-could-be-missing-out-on-state-pension-payments/

Jeanieallergy

What's the situation if you're caring for children (in the 1990s) and you get a part-time job for a few months but you don't earn enough to pay National Insurance? I thought I would still be covered by HRP during the rest of the year when I wasn't working but the DWP says no.

molerat

Jeanieallergy said:

What's the situation if you're caring for children (in the 1990s) and you get a part-time job for a few months but you don't earn enough to pay National Insurance? I thought I would still be covered by HRP during the rest of the year when I wasn't working but the DWP says no.

HRP is not from caring for children but from claiming child benefit. 

One of the problems with HRP was that the election to pay the married women's NI rate or "small stamp" precluded you from eligibility.

So what was your situation at that time ?

If you were claiming child benefit and had not elected to pay the small stamp, or had not chosen not to pay class 2 if self employed, you should get NI credits irrespective of any "earned" entitlement.

otb666

i remember having to ring them up as for some reason they had not applied HRP to my NI record even though i was in receipt of child benefit and they then sent me a letter to confirm that it had been backdated to 1992

staggered

I think it's highly likely that mum would qualify for this.  She stayed at home to look after us in the 70s and 80s and only received a small state pension.  She reached pension age in 2000 but died in 2016.  Would it be possible for dad to claim on her behalf for under-paid pension between 2000 and 2016?  I don't have her NI record and don't know how I'd go about getting it.

Chriso58

Hi, I claimed for missing HRP from 1978-1980 In March this year and had an acknowledgement back from HMRC agreeing that i had a valid claim. I spoke to them a month or so after receiving the letter and was told they had passed the detail on to the Pension Centre and I would hear back from them. To date I’ve heard nothing and if I phone the Pension Centre get a message telling me to contact HMRC! The message logged against my account on the NI website tells my I should hear by April 24! Is this normal service as the Pension Centre are swamped?

molerat

Is this normal service as the Pension Centre are swamped?

Unfortunately yes.