Will I lose N.I. Credits if I transfer Home Responsibilities Protection to wife?

thor

My wife recently received a letter from HM Revenue saying that she may be eligible for Home Responsibilities Protection which is currently not reflected on her N.I. record. She has never worked but from 2000 to 2010 we brought up children together with child benefit being claimed in my name.

In this circumstance I understand that I can transfer H.R.P to my wife but I'm not too sure what will happen to my own N.I. record if I did this.

Currently I have N. I credits for each year between 2000 and 2010 earned through employer contributions. If I did transfer my H.R.P to wife for those years, will I lose all those N.I. credits I earned?

p00hsticks

If you were employed I think you should see two sets of credits - one set from your paid employment and one from the Child Benefit credits. 

My understanding is that HMRC would only transfer the credits if you already had earned a separate set yourself and could therefore afford to lose them (that's certainly how ot works now for Adult Childcare credits) but best to double check with HMRC if the letter doesn't make it clear. 

thor

I've just checked my records and in a typical year see something like the following

You have contributions from

Paid employment: (which is a different figure each year) and then also -

National Insurance credits: 52 weeks

These may have been added to your record if you were ill/disabled, unemployed, caring for someone full-time or on jury service.

That particular year is listed as a 'Full Year' and I did work the whole year so was the 52 weeks of N.I. credits generated from the H.R.P scheme? and if transferred I will still be able to keep that year?

jem16

thor said:

I've just checked my records and in a typical year see something like the following

You have contributions from

Paid employment: (which is a different figure each year) and then also -

National Insurance credits: 52 weeks

These may have been added to your record if you were ill/disabled, unemployed, caring for someone full-time or on jury service.

That particular year is listed as a 'Full Year' and I did work the whole year so was the 52 weeks of N.I. credits generated from the H.R.P scheme? and if transferred I will still be able to keep that year?

Yes the credits will have been from HRP. Your paid employment will probably have gained you a qualifying year anyway but this will be checked as you won’t be allowed to transfer your credits if they were needed by yourself.