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.
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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.
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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 does the state pension work?
AT the moment the current state pension is paid to both men and women from age 66 - but it's due to rise to 67 by 2028 and 68 by 2046.
The state pension is a recurring payment from the government most Brits start getting when they reach State Pension age.
But not everyone gets the same amount, and you are awarded depending on your National Insurance record.
For most pensioners, it forms only part of their retirement income, as they could have other pots from a workplace pension, earning and savings.
The new state pension is based on people's National Insurance records.
Workers must have 35 qualifying years of National Insurance to get the maximum amount of the new state pension.
You earn National Insurance qualifying years through work, or by getting credits, for instance when you are looking after children and claiming child benefit.
If you have gaps, you can top up your record by paying in voluntary National Insurance contributions.
To get the old, full basic state pension, you will need 30 years of contributions or credits.
You will need at least 10 years on your NI record to get any state pension.
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