The state pension in the UK has long been a promise of financial stability in old age, an attempt to compensate for the decades spent in the workforce and as a carer with a regular income. But a significant hitch in the Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) plan that was active between 1978 and 2010 has cost tens of thousands of pensioners, primarily women, money, and some even thousands of pounds of pension income. A complex rectification procedure is underway at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to address this long-standing issue, which has sparked anger and demands for immediate action.
The HRP scheme was devised to safeguard the state pension entitlements of parents and carers who have stopped working to bring up a child/look after people in need. It achieved this by several measures, including reducing the number of qualifying years required to receive a full basic state pension, thereby ensuring that those who took time out of work to care were not penalized specifically by doing so. However, a significant weakness has also arisen for anyone who claimed Child Benefit before May 2000 and was not required to provide a National Insurance number. In the absence of this number, several eligible individuals whose HRP credits were not recorded received pensions smaller than they deserved.
Scale of the Problem
The magnitude of the problem is excessive. The DWP estimates that there is an underpayment of between £ 300 million and £ 1.5 billion due to HRP errors, and it is estimated that 200,000 people, mainly women in their 60s and 70s, are affected. The DWP found 12,379 instances of underpayments in this period (January 8, 2024, to the end of March 2025), with a total amount of money to be paid to the citizens (according to the assessment of the DWP) of 104 million pounds, and an average per-person payout of about 7,859 pounds. The repayments have been very high, exceeding 17,700 pounds to individual pensioners, thus pointing to a severe impact of the financial cost on the affected people.
The problem stems from a lack of automatic support to record HRP credits for individuals who received Child Benefit and were affected by the introduction of the NI number requirement. To people who are at state pension age before April 2010, HRP cut off the years required to gain standard basic state pensions-39 years (women) and 44 years (men)-by as much as 20 years. HRP became NI credits for those retiring once the retirement age changes started to take effect, after April 2010, building up the 35 years usually needed to qualify for the new state pension. Failure to earn credits has resulted in a shortage of NI records, which directly limits the entitlements.
Challenges and Response by the Government
The DWP and HMRC have now embarked on a massive initiative to correct this through the Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) exercise, which began in 2021, following the issue being revealed in 2020. HMRC has already written to more than 370,000 people who might have been affected, with those on or over state pension age being given priority. By September 2024, the online HRP eligibility checker on GOV. The UK had served 493,813 individuals, with 37,289 pensioner applications processed, and 5,428 under the age of 66. Already, the DWP has made back payments amounting to £ 42 million, but the correction process is likely to drag on until 2027/28, as the exercise is too complicated.
Not that there are no obstacles to the process. HMRC is unable to easily identify all those affected, as Child Benefit records are destroyed five years after a claim has been finalized due to reasons of individual data protection. This has prompted the use of NI records to terminate potential cases, yet there remains a lack. Many pensioner complaints have concerned receiving letters and misunderstanding whether they are scams or whether they should bother to read them, due to their distant connection with HRP and Child Benefit claims made a long time ago, when filing. Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb has raised concerns that the system is too complex, leaving many pensioners in the dark about key matters.
Effect on the Pensioners
The financial effects are significant for individuals. An effective HRP claim can increase the weekly pension benefit and result in substantial arrears. An example would be a pensioner who had not received HRP credits in some years, which would also result in a dramatic rise in the pension, with years of underpayment being compensated. Nonetheless, an increase in pension income can result in a loss of entitlement to means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, creating an additional complexity that existing claimants need to navigate.
The human toll is also enormous. The pensioners are old and many more in their 70s and 80s, who have been in months of limbo, with some people suffering close to a year before their claims are manifested. There are tales of frustrations, and those, such as an elderly lady named Pamela Cottingham, aged 78, are left waiting to have arrears paid. Backlogs in the DWP and the necessity of keeping the HMRC and DWP in synch with one another, where HMRC adjusts NI records before the DWP recalculates the pension, have held the industry back, just as many feel forgotten by the system, which is supposed to be the guardian of their welfare.
A Call to Action
HMRC and DWP are reminding individuals to review their NI details, especially individuals who received Child Benefit before May 2000. GOV. The UK online HRP eligibility checker should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Paper versions can be obtained by people who cannot check online using form CF411. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray has emphasised that not conducting what might be termed passive checks, particularly in verifying the entitlement of pensioners to their full pension, is tantamount to saying that one should be put in prison first before checking their entitlement to a full pension.
The longer the exercise on correction takes, the more the government is pressured to make the process leaner in terms of efficiency and make it more transparent. Meanwhile, thousands of pensioners are awaiting their due payments, hoping that the mistake that has been undermining their retirement security for years will finally be corrected at last. It is a crucial method to regain the much-needed trust in the system, and this oversight should be addressed as soon as possible, as the state pension remains a vital lifeline.