 Mistakes in people's National Insurance records has resulted in an underpayment of thousands of pounds for many people – mostly women. The reason why women are more likely to be affected relates to taking time off work to care for a child. Anyone who took time off to do that before 2010 could be owed money. With women of pension age most likely to be impacted, the fact that they could be owed thousands might be something of a relief for anyone struggling with the cost of living crisis. Here we go into more detail and explain what you can do to check… Why you could be owed thousands in state pension payments The 'new' state pension is currently £203.85 a week – but not everyone receives the full amount. How much you receive depends on how many qualifying national insurance (NI) years you have. The common misconception is that you only accrue NI when you're in employment – but those who take a break to care for someone else, such as a child, also accumulate payments. Many people could be owed money after erroneous gaps were found in people's NI records (Picture: Getty) The system which protected primarily mothers who stopped paid work to raise children was initially called the 'Home Responsibilities Protection' (HRP), but this was changed to national insurance credits in 2010. However, it came to light that the system has been hit with errors. Hundreds of thousands who cared for children have gaps in their NI records that shouldn't be there, and this is why people could be owed a payout. As explained by Money Saving Expert, the Government has admitted that around 210,000 people – predominantly women – could have been underpaid as much as £1.3 billion due to these gaps in their NI records. The average amount of state pension back payment due to this issue is £2,000, with the highest found to be £33,300, according to a report published earlier this month by the National Audit Office. Who is){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Mistakes in people’s National Insurance records has resulted in an underpayment of thousands of pounds for many people – mostly women.
The reason why women are more likely to be affected relates to taking time off work to care for a child. Anyone who took time off to do that before 2010 could be owed money.
With women of pension age most likely to be impacted, the fact that they could be owed thousands might be something of a relief for anyone struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Here we go into more detail and explain what you can do to check…