Did I top up years when I should have got Home Responsibilities Protection?

gweilo

I found a letter from the Inland Revenue dated back in 2004 which summarises my NI contributions from 1996 to 2002. It suggests that in 5 of those 6 years I had a shortfall as I only worked sporadically in those years. I was definitely receiving Child Benefit in those years as my first child was born in 1990 and my second in 1992. The letter said it was not a bill and it was up to me to decide whether to top up these years or not. The total amount to top up these years was £1480.70 which I think I recall paying. Looking at my state pension records now it appears these years are in fact full. 

My question is should I have paid this amount of £1480.70 if I was getting Child Benefit and therefore did I have HRP? How can I find out if these years are full because I spent money to top them up? I dont relish the task of trying to go back through bank records from 2004 to prove that I paid voluntary contributions for those years. Will a phonecall to DWP help? Will they be able to access detail all of the extra voluntary contributions I have made over the years or will they just see the same info as me, namely that the years are full? Thank you.

jem16

If you click on View Details for the relevant years in your NI Record you will see whether it’s paid contributions, voluntary contributions or NI Credits. 

molerat

Your NI record should show how a year was filled - weeks voluntary, weeks credits etc.  The only real exception to that is if it is credits for being above the LEL then it purely shows as a full year.

p00hsticks

gweilo said:

 Will a phonecall to DWP help? 

No, it's HMRC who are responsible for maintaining your NI record. 

heroic

If you log into your NI record and click on ‘View details’ for each of those years, it should show exactly how they were filled – whether it was through paid contributions, NI credits (like HRP from Child Benefit), or voluntary contributions.

If it shows as voluntary contributions, then that would confirm you paid the £1,480.70 back then. If it’s NI credits, then those years were filled via HRP and it’s unlikely you’d have needed to top them up.

As p00hsticks mentioned, it’s HMRC you’d need to speak to rather than DWP. HMRC should be able to see historic records of any voluntary contributions you made, even if you don’t have the proof yourself.

It’s worth giving them a ring – they can usually break down how each year was credited so you know for certain.