Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) payment - How Long for Update?

ndawn27

Hi All
I wanted to ask what peoples experience has been with claiming HRP? My mother ( who is 75) received her letter from HMRC within 3 weeks to say she was owed HRP on her NI Record. This was back at the beginning of March and has since heard nothing else about what she is owed or if her pension is going up. Should we contact DWP or should she just wait a little longer? Any experiences or advice much appreciated

Steve__R

Based upon our experience I wouldn't hold your breath. My wife applied in July 23, got a fast response from HMRC about 10 days later confirming that several years HRP were owed and it was passing case to DWP. Since then complete silence. We wrote to the DWP to query progress in February 24 but received no reply. So we are at about 10 months since filling out the form and do not have the slightest idea what is going on. Given that my wife is in the 'high priority' category having been retired for 16 years, I feel sorry for anyone in a lower priority. They have said that they hope to have all of the arrears paid by the end of 2025, so  this suggests some people will have to wait another 18 months or so.

ndawn27

Steve__R said:

Based upon our experience I wouldn't hold your breath. My wife applied in July 23, got a fast response from HMRC about 10 days later confirming that several years HRP were owed and it was passing case to DWP. Since then complete silence. We wrote to the DWP to query progress in February 24 but received no reply. So we are at about 10 months since filling out the form and do not have the slightest idea what is going on. Given that my wife is in the 'high priority' category having been retired for 16 years, I feel sorry for anyone in a lower priority. They have said that they hope to have all of the arrears paid by the end of 2025, so  this suggests some people will have to wait another 18 months or so.

Hi, I just wanted to update you with my mums HRP claim. She got her letter from the DWP 29th May. She is getting approx 8.5k back and her pension has gone up by approx £14 a week also. So all in all approx 3-4 months from 1st filling in the HRP claim to completion

Steve__R

Hi thanks for the update. Looks like DWP are stitching us up then. Mind you, the longer it takes the more they owe. Looks like we will need to chase again. SR

Oscarboy101

I had a 20 year (yes 20 years!) ongoing battle with HMRC and DWP. They claimed I wasn't entitled to HRP for the 15 missing years on my NI record as I hadn't claimed child benefit - I have 4 children and claimed child benefit for each child from 1985 - 2010. After over 20 years of complaining including the HMRC telling me again earlier this year that I wasn’t  entitled and it was becoming a vexatious complaint,  and 10  day's after my last phone call with them, I got a letter saying I had been awarded HRP for the missing years. No apology- nothing. As I am very close to retirement and thinking I wasn't going to get full state pension, we  made the decision earlier this yearmove to a cheaper part if the country. How on earth can they get away with this? 

maggiedoox

Hello All
Can anyone help, I am 74 yrs old lady who retired in 2009. I applied for HRP and was granted it 2nd Nov 2023, it took until the 3rd June 2024 (and many phone calls) for my pension/pension credit to be adjusted (great). There has been no mention of a refund from DWP , I rang and  asked whether I was entitled to a refund and if so by whom and was told that I have to contact HMRC.
I have tried to get through to someone but no luck. Does anyone know what department actually deals with refunds as I am fed up trying to get information , the GATEWAY website is of no use.

molerat

Refund for what exactly ?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

maggiedoox said:

Hello All
Can anyone help, I am 74 yrs old lady who retired in 2009. I applied for HRP and was granted it 2nd Nov 2023, it took until the 3rd June 2024 (and many phone calls) for my pension/pension credit to be adjusted (great). There has been no mention of a refund from DWP , I rang and  asked whether I was entitled to a refund and if so by whom and was told that I have to contact HMRC.
I have tried to get through to someone but no luck. Does anyone know what department actually deals with refunds as I am fed up trying to get information , the GATEWAY website is of no use.

Do you mean payment of arrears?

If you were on pension credit there may not be any arrears to pay as the extra State Pension could have reduced your pension credit.

foxyandscoofyhorse

I filled the relevant forms in, in February 2024 and was awarded 10 years missing HRP from 1978 to 1988 in March by HMRC. I retired in 2006, when I telephoned DWP in September this year I was told the case had gone for review but hadn't been looked at yet because they have a backlog, but it will be backdated and any arrears paid. 

maggiedoox

Thank you for you're reply. I did mean arrears , when I contacted DWP I asked if I would have to pay back any Pension Credit and was told no . Thank you for the advice.

asdrubalex

I applied for my mum October 14th, got a response on the online portal saying COMPLETED without understanding if it had gone through or not. We called, and it turns out they needed 'more info' all of which was on the original application (my dad's name, had we lived abroad? ) etc, possibly because we came to the UK in 1991.  So I've buried them in proof that we came here in 1991 as I had so much old paperwork.

PS - did anyone actually managed to get precise dates from the child benefit office? Despite having an old number they said there were not able to find it, so we've had to make a bit of a speculative date. The number we had was CHB 12345678 but it didn't have the final two letters at the end, but then I don't know if back then they did...and no one in the CHB could give us any indication, nor in the NI office (My mum had HRP correctly applied for 2001/2002 and 2002/2003, but nothing from 1992-2001