Britons warned they could be losing £91,000 worth of state pension

National Insurance error could lose Britons ‘life-changing’ £91,000 worth of state pension (Image: GETTY) Women who claimed Child Benefit before May 2000 could be missing out on thousands of pounds worth of state pension , experts at interactive investor have warned. This comes following an announcement from the DWP and HMRC last week that some people may have Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) missing from their National Insurance records – which could affect their state pension. Due to data protection rules, the Government deletes relevant Child Benefit information after five years, and has said they now do not know which women are affected. However, it’s thought that women in their 60s and 70s are most likely to be affected and typically, it would be those who did not provide their National Insurance number on a Child Benefit claim before May 2000. This means their National Insurance record may not show the correct number of qualifying years of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), which is used to calculate the value of a person’s state pension entitlement. Some women could be missing out on thousands of pounds worth of state pension (Image: EXPRESS) The losses could, however, represent ‘life-changing’ amounts of money, experts at interactive investor have warned, and are urging the Government to work hard to contact people as soon as possible to rectify the errors. Providing an example, interactive investor said if someone was claiming Child Benefit for 15 years and not working, they could be entitled to an additional 15 years of National Insurance (NI) contributions. Based on the value of the new state pension, which is currently £10,600 per year, these 15 years of lost NI credits are potentially worth £4,543 additional state pension per year, or £96,914 over 20 years (not including inflation). Alice Guy, Head of Pensions and Savings, interactive investor commented: ‘It’s a tragedy that many women are living in unnecessary poverty due to this latest problem with the state pension. ‘Someone caring for their kids as a stay-at-home Mum for 16 years could receive a depressing £4,500 less state pension each year, by missing out on crucial National Insurance credits due to this mistake.’ Ms Guy added that these are ‘life-changing amounts’ and will make a ‘huge impact’ on someone’s well-being in retirement. Ms Guy continued: ‘The state pension is crucially important, especially for many women who are less likely than men to have a private pension income and are more likely to be living in poverty in retirement. ‘As a society, we’ve decided to support women who take time out to care for their family by counting these years towards their state pension. It’s therefore it’s very sad that these women have been let down by the system and are now more likely to be facing poverty in old age. ‘It’s vitally important that the Government work hard to contact everyone affected as soon as possible to sort out this mistake. Sadly, many women affected could have died in poverty due to this mistake, with a much lower income than they were entitled to.’ HMRC has said it will start contacting people thought to be affected from Autumn 2023. According to the tax body, this will happen in phases and will be in order of how close they are to state pension age. Those over State Pension age will be contacted first. HMRC and DWP will then correct the National Insurance records and update state pension entitlement as quickly as possible. Some of the people affected may now have died, which means their families will be entitled to check their eligibility and make a claim for any arrears they are owed. HMRC has also said there may be some people who are affected but who will not be identified by the search. In this case, it may widen the search criteria once the initial contact has started. It also notes that those who first claimed Child Benefit after May 2000 will not be affected and do not need to contact HMRC . This is because it became mandatory in May 2000 to provide a National Insurance Number for Child Benefit claims. The tax body also states that Class 3 National Insurance credits for parents and carers (CPC) available from April 6, 2010, ‘have been recorded correctly’, as have partial periods of HRP.