Martin Lewis issues ‘don’t ignore’ warning as hundreds of thousands owed up to £5,000 – see if you’ll get a letter
MARTIN Lewis has issued an urgent warning to hundreds of thousands of Brits who could be owed thousands of pounds.
The money-saving expert has revealed that people could be owed money due to errors with state pension calculations.
Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) is a government system to protect the state pensions of those who take time off to look after their children or care for someone with a long-term disability.
Unfortunately, the system has errors where those who took time off work to look after someone else had their state pension amount reduced.
The system failed to take into account that many would have gaps in their National Insurance (NI) record.
The pension error, which was first revealed in 2022, has already seen 210,000 people miss out on retirement money they’re entitled to.
It’s understood that 150,000 of those affected by the historic error are still alive and around 60,000 are now deceased.
The DWP estimates that a total of £1.3billion is owed to those affected – that equates to an average amount of £5,000 owed to each individual.
When the mistake was uncovered the DWP described it as the “second largest” source of errors in state pensions.
In his latest Money Saving Expert newsletter, Martin warned those who could be owed money will be receiving the news in a letter.
He said: “If you get a letter, DON’T ignore it, it can be worth £10,000s.”
Who is eligible?
You are likely to be owed money if you are:
- Aged 41 to 90 (The most common age is those between 60 and 80.)
- You took time away from paid work to look after a child (or a person with a disability/illness) at some point from 1978 to 2010.
- You claimed Child Benefit or Income Support for the first time before May 2000 and didn’t include your national insurance number on your claim.
How much will I get?
The amount of state pension someone gets is based on their NI contributions and the number of “qualifying years” they have.
However, since the £1.3billion spread across all those owed works out to be £5,000 on average.
In some cases, people have been owed more than £10,000.
How can I get the money I am owed?
The DWP has already started sending letters to thousands of people who might have been entitled to HRP between 1978 and 2010 but have no HRP on their NI record.
DWP expects to send several hundred thousand letters to those affected over the next 16 months.
Where errors are found, NI records will be corrected and the DWP will then recalculate state pensions and pay arrears.
This could result in increased pension payments as well as a lump sum payment.
For the tens of thousands of those affected who have died, it will be a matter of tracking down the families of the deceased.
Anyone who thinks they may be eligible for Home Responsibilities Protection can also fill out an application.
After checking you received child benefits since 1978 and your NI record which shows a missing payment, you can access a CF411 on the government website.
You can also contact the HMRC National Insurance helpline for an application form.
How much is child benefit?
THERE are two child benefit rates, one for the eldest child and another for younger children.
- The current rate for your eldest or only child will be £25.60 per week. That’s £102.40 a month or £1,229 a year.
- You get the money for each child under 16 (or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training)If families split up, how much you’ll get for each child depends on how you claim.
- You will be able to get £16.95 for every additional child, which works out to £67.80 a month and £814 per year.
- Only one household can claim for each child.
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