home responsibility credit

Tillyfliss

I am 74 so have received my pension for 14 years

I just check NI records and found several years of home responsibility that have not been credited. 

One year I worked 2 Saturdays so have 2 NI credits but the whole year was discounted. Another shows me earning £20 and again the whole year was discounted. Some years showed nothing. These are just 3 examples during the time I was receiving Child benefit but not in work. This is not fair but could it be correct?

I have already lost 5 years from being abroad with my husband (3 abroad plus one either end because of timing) and 2 more because as a teacher starting work then leaving work did not coincide with financial years

I can fill in a form on HMRC but have no record of Child benefit so how can I prove it?

p00hsticks

How much state pension are you actually receiving ?

In what tax year did you reach state pension age (this will determine whether you needed 39 or 30 years to qualify for the full 'basic' state pension amount). 

What years are the gaps in ? I believe Home Responsibilities Protection was only introduced in 1978.

molerat

When were you overseas and for what reason ?

What years are you missing the child benefit credits ?

Tillyfliss

my husband was working in Germany and then in Belgium for an English company  at the Eropean space Agency
He was not enrolled in the Germany social security system.
I was with him looking after our children
We left England in June 1980 and returned July 1983. I received Child benefit before leaving and after i returned.

Tillyfliss

i reached pension age in 2009 so am under the old scheme. I have 31 years of full contributions though this was because i voluntary paid 68 weeks to boost contributions for 3 years. I didn't know i could do that until it was too late to buy more contributions. 
I have 5 years when i had not worked and paid no contributions (HMRC are checking 2) but also years when i did the odd job (few sessions here and there and/or Saturdays when my husband was at home with the children) and so had a few NI contributions and these years are considered to be 'not full'. It seems as if you are on child benefit and so should be eligible for Home Responsibility you can not be if you work at all. 

molerat

A year is "not full" if you have not made the equivalent of 52 weeks contributions.   HMRC are currently looking at child benefit recipients as it seems you could register for CB without your NI number so the CB & your NI record were not reconciled.  Also if you elected to pay the small stamp you would not be entitled to HRP.

Tillyfliss

Thank you molerat. Do you think this means that a full year could not be made up of home responsibilities  and a couple of days working? Do you think this means you could must not work at all for the year to count as full? I never paid the small stamp

QrizB

Tillyfliss said:

Do you think this means that a full year could not be made up of home responsibilities  and a couple of days working? Do you think this means you could must not work at all for the year to count as full?

No, no-one has suggested that.

Can you help us by answering these questions that others have already asked:

p00hsticks said:

How much state pension are you actually receiving?

And

molerat said:

What years are you missing the child benefit credits?

jem16

Tillyfliss said:

Thank you molerat. Do you think this means that a full year could not be made up of home responsibilities  and a couple of days working? Do you think this means you could must not work at all for the year to count as full? I never paid the small stamp

Apparently there was a change to the system where you could have a mixture of credits from HRP and credits from paid work. Prior to that change if you worked at all during the year then you could not also get HRP credits. I was surprised to hear this as in some years I did work but not enough to gain a qualifying year but did receive it due to HRP. I’ll try and find it again. 

Tillyfliss

Thank you Jem16, molerat, GrizB and p00sticks
and I am receiving 31years.
79/80, 85/86, 87/88 were years when i did not accrue enough NI contributions. 84/85 and 86/87 i had no contributions. They are checking 97/98 and 98/99. During all this time i was receiving child benefit
I really want to know what the exact portion is regarding non-full years and search as i might on Google i can not find this information. I keep getting directed to HMRC 'check your contributions' which does not give me the information i am looking for.
Thank you all for helping me so far. I will contact tax service but think i need to know my rights before i do
Another thing that worries me i have no record of Child Benefit numbers, though my husband reckons he still has bank statements from then! 

molerat

HRP will not show up as credits for pre 2010 retirees.  A calculation was carried out at retirement which reduced the number of years required to get the full basic pension currently £156.18, your annual statement will show how much basic you are getting.  HMRC / DWP are currently looking into this widespread problem and there is nothing to do at the moment, a system for checking and applying will be rolled out later this year.