Martin Lewis has urged women aged between 41 and 90 to check if they are owed money due to a state pension error. The MoneySavingExpert founder described the National Insurance blunder as having 'primarily' affected women in that age group.
HMRC Stopped Contacting Victims
Speaking on his BBC Podcast, Lewis explained that HMRC had previously reached out to potential victims but had now stopped contacting them. He said anyone who stopped work to care for a child or someone with a long-term disability between 1978 and 2010 may have been 'short-changed'.
Lewis stated: 'They could be the victim of a state pension error that could mean they're owed a fortune. The government was contacting them but then Steve Webb, former pensions minister, got in touch with us and said they've stopped contacting them - they're no longer trying to rectify this. They're not trying to rectify it so I'm trying to rectify it by getting it out there.'
Home Responsibilities Protection Explained
Lewis detailed that from 1978 to 2010, the government had a system called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) to protect state pension entitlement for those who didn't earn enough due to caring responsibilities. It was intended to be awarded automatically to those claiming Child Benefit or receiving Income Support while caring for someone with a long-term illness.
'It effectively gave you the National Insurance contributions you would have otherwise got,' Lewis said. 'You need around 30 years of NI contributions to get the full state pension. If you're short of years you don't get the full state pension.'
Case Study: £31,674 Back Pay
Lewis highlighted a listener who received 15 years of back pay from HMRC totalling £31,674 for underpayment of her state pension. He emphasised: 'If you're missing 15 years, as that case study was, it's a huge amount of money.'
He continued: 'Who is most likely to be affected? Women currently between the age of 41 and 90, though it's mainly women of the age of 60s and 70s. But it could be anyone 41-90 who took time away from paid work to look after a child or a person with a long-term disability at any point between 1978 and 2010 who claimed Child Benefit or Income Support for the first time before May 2000.'
How to Check
Lewis advised: 'So effectively your kids were born before May 2000, you go onto gov.uk, you find your state pension forecast and you look if you're entitled to the full state pension years. If you're not then you need to check your gaps in National Insurance years which you can also do on gov.uk.'
He added: 'If there are gaps in your record from 1978 to 2010 these were the years you took off work to care for a child or someone with a long-term health condition, you may be missing Home Responsibilities Protection. At that point we're getting technical in what you need to do. Go and look it up there are good guides online on what to do next. It's worth checking, it's huge money, these mainly women have been done over by a system error.'
