Martin Lewis has urged people aged between 40 and 90 to check if they’re owed “£10,000s” from the tax office. The issue relates to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), which was replaced by National Insurance credits in 2010.

People received HRP automatically if they claimed Child Benefit for a child under 16, or Income Support because they were looking after a sick or disabled person and were not able to work. However, it has since been discovered that the system failed to accurately record HRP credits for some claimants after the shift to NI. Those who are affected will not have received, or be on track to receive, the correct amount of state pension. In a new post on X, the Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder wrote: “State Pension error! Did you take time off work (1978 to 2010) to look after children or someone with a long-term disability? You could be owed £10,000s.”

He continued: “In brief: 100,000s wrongly have Nat Insurance gaps that reduce your State Pension as they should’ve got ‘Home Responsibilities Protection’.

“The Govt was contacting people, but isn’t any longer. Thus, the onus is on YOU to proactively check.” (SIC)

Mr Lewis added: “Please share with anyone who may have been impacted (most commonly women aged 40 to 90).”

Sharing a recent success, Mr Lewis added that a woman emailed the MSE team to reveal that she received 15 years’ worth of back pay from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), totalling a staggering £31,674.

HMRC was previously contacting those affected. However, in its latest annual report, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has significantly reduced the funds allocated for repayments from £1.2 billion to just £29.8 million. This change is attributed to a low public response to requests for individuals to check their records and claim the missing credits.

The report reads: “Correcting HRP is inherently challenging. The number of people applying to correct their missing HRP has been low. Substantial numbers of people have not responded to the Government calls for them to apply to add missing HRP, and the exercise has resulted in much lower activity levels.”

Around 194,000 people are still thought to have incorrect NI records.

To receive the full new state pension, people typically need around 35 National Insurance contributions, but this number varies, and some people need more.

You can check your NI record online or using the free HMRC app. The quickest way to claim missing HRP credits is online, though support is also available by calling the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500.

To apply, individuals must complete form CF411, available on the Government’s website. Once approved, HRP credits can be added retroactively to an NI record, potentially increasing pension entitlements and triggering back payments.