The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has recently updated the public on the strides made in the State Pension Underpayments Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) exercise, alongside the Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) corrections.
The DWP has successfully completed the LEAP correction exercises for married women and civil partners (category BL), and those over 80 (category D), with assurances that “progress remains on track for the ‘widowed’ cases to be completed by the end of 2024”.
From January 11, 2021, to September 30, 2024, a total of 119,050 pensioners were identified as having been underpaid through the LEAP exercise, receiving back payments averaging £11,905. In a parallel effort, HMRC discovered an additional 5,344 underpayments between January 8, 2024, and the end of September through the HRP corrections exercise, with average owed State Pension underpayments of £7,859.
Here’s an overview of the progress on State Pension underpayments, who might be affected, and how individuals can check their status online or via telephone. Back in 2020, the DWP realised that several individuals had not received the automatic increase in their State Pension as legally required, prompting an investigation into the scale of the issue.
Why there are State Pension underpayments
The reasons behind State Pension underpayments fall into three primary categories:
- Cases covered by the State Pension Underpayments (LEAP) exercise
- Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) cases where HRP has not been recorded accurately on National Insurance records
- Cases where National Insurance credits need to be updated for people who were claiming Universal Credit.
The State Pension Underpayments (LEAP) exercise, the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) largest underpayment correction initiative, is currently addressing cases including those where Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) has not been accurately recorded on National Insurance records and instances where National Insurance credits need updating for Universal Credit claimants. Between January 2021 and September 2024, numerous cases were reviewed, arrears identified, and payments made, reports the Daily Record.
Due to errors in recording HRP, the DWP estimates it underpaid between £300 million and £1.5 billion of State Pension. Over 370,000 letters have been issued by HMRC to individuals, predominantly women in their 60s and 70s, who may have been underpaid their State Pension due to missing information on their National Insurance record.
This issue mainly concerns those with missing HRP from their NI record. HRP was a scheme designed to protect parents’ and carers’ entitlement to the State Pension and was replaced by NI credits from April 6, 2010.
HMRC is using NI records to identify as many people as possible who might 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 National Insurance (NI) number on claims, so those claiming after this point will not have been affected. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of people are due an average of £5,000 in back payments.
Personal representatives can make claims on behalf of deceased customers. For more details on eligibility and how to claim, visit the dedicated HRP page on GOV. UK.
State Pension National Insurance Credits
Some individuals who received Universal Credit may not have had their National Insurance Credits correctly attributed to their National Insurance record held by HMRC, which could impact their State Pension. National Insurance records are maintained by HMRC based on information from employers through PAYE, Self-Assessment tax returns from the self-employed and information provided by DWP on benefit receipt where that creates a National Insurance credit.
Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, information about Universal Credit entitlements could not be processed by the National Insurance Recording System. National Insurance credits can affect the value of a State Pension award, so there was a risk some people who had claimed Universal Credit and subsequently reached State Pension age may have been underpaid.
During this period, the DWP implemented a manual system with HMRC to update an individual’s National Insurance record where they felt they qualified for National Insurance credits in respect of time on Universal Credit.
The issues between the DWP and HMRC systems have now been resolved, allowing claims data for the affected years to be successfully processed by HMRC. Once these records are updated, information will be sent to the DWP who will then correct any State Pension awards that are affected.
How to check if you are affected or make a claim
There are nearly 12.7 million people across Great Britain claiming State Pension, including more than one million in Scotland. Of that overall total, 9.7 million are in receipt of the Basic State Pension and 2.9 million on the New State Pension.
The Basic State Pension is worth up to £169.50 each week and the New State Pension up to £221.20. The quickest way to find out if you have been underpaid your State Pension is to call the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469, lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday – full contact details can be found on the GOV.UK website.
