HMRC has processed 37,289 applications from people over State Pension age and 5,428 from those aged below 66, up to the end of September last year

Thousands of elderly people, most of them women, have been urged to check their pension income by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The agency has highlighted that pension underpayments could make some individuals eligible for years of back pay.

The government has recently confirmed that over 370,000 letters have been dispatched to older individuals, predominantly women, encouraging them to review their State Pension as it may be less than what they’re entitled to. According to data released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on the progress of rectifying historical State Pension errors, the average arrears payment is valued at £7,859.

In 2022, the DWP discovered a number of State Pension cases in which it seemed that historic periods of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) were absent, resulting in incorrect State Pension payments. Investigations found that this issue affected the National Insurance records, managed by HMRC, of some individuals both below and above State Pension age.

The DWP and HMRC initiated a Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) corrections exercise to identify and invite potentially impacted individuals to apply, correct their records, and make both arrears and ongoing revised State Pension payments.

The latest data reveals that 493,813 individuals have utilised the online tool at GOV.UK to check if they are missing HRP from their State Pension.

Anyone affected by the error is due to receive any back payments by the end of this year, reports the Daily Record. The DWP has also previously stated that those closest to the State Pension age in their 60s and 70s are being issued letters first, however, anyone who believes they may have been affected can check their eligibility online using the self-identification tool on GOV.UK here.

Up until the end of September last year, HMRC had processed 37,289 applications from individuals over State Pension age and 5,428 from those under 66. To date, the DWP has disbursed £42 million in arrears payments.

Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) underpayments in a nutshell

The DWP estimates that due to errors with the recording of HRP, it underpaid between £300m and £1.5 billion of State Pension. HRP was a scheme designed to safeguard parents’ and carers’ entitlement to the State Pension and was superseded by NI credits from April 6, 2010.

HMRC is utilising NI records to identify as many people as possible who may have been entitled to HRP between 1978 and 2010 and have no HRP on their NI record. After May 2000, it became compulsory to include a NI number on claims so people claiming after this point will not have been affected.

It is estimated tens of thousands of people are due an average of £5,000 in back payments. HMRC and DWP are also conducting a wider campaign to ensure that everyone who may be eligible is aware of the corrections exercise.