The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently published new updates on the progress of the State Pension Underpayments Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) exercise and the Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) corrections exercise being conducted in partnership with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). DWP has now completed the LEAP correction exercises for married women and people in a civil partnership (category BL) and those over 80 (category D) and confirmed that “progress remains on track for the ‘widowed’ cases to be completed by the end of 2024”.
Between January 11, 2021 and September 30, 2024, the DWP have identified 119,050 pensioners being underpaid through the LEAP exercise, with back payments averaging £11,905. A similar exercise by HMRC has found that between January 8, 2024 and the end of September a further 5,344 underpayments have been identified through the HRP corrections exercise, with people owed State Pension underpayments of £7,859, on average.
Below is an overview of progress on State Pension underpayments, who might be affected and how to check online or over the phone.
Reasons for State Pension underpayments
In 2020, the DWP became aware of a number of individuals who had not had their State Pension increased, in accordance with the law, automatically when this should have occurred. This prompted the Department to take action to investigate the extent of the problem.
There are three broad categories of State Pension underpayments:
- 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.
State Pension Underpayments – LEAP exercise
The State Pension LEAP is the DWP’s largest underpayment correction exercise in progress. It has been established to identify where State Pension underpayments may have occurred in respect of the following groups of people:
- Category BL (Cat BL) – People who are married or in a civil partnership who reached State Pension age before April 6, 2016 and should be entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions.
- Missed conversions – People who have been widowed and their State Pension was not increased to include any amounts they are entitled to inherit from their late husband, wife or civil partner.
- Category D (Cat D) – People who reach age 80 and who are getting some Basic State Pension but less than the £85.00 (in 2022-23) and may therefore, subject to satisfying the appropriate residency conditions, be entitled to Cat D State Pension of £101.55 a week (2024/25 weekly rate).
State Pension underpayment progress – September 2024
The number of cases reviewed, arrears identified and payments made between January 2021 and September 2024 are listed below.
Married (Cat BL)
- Cases reviewed: 321,142
- Underpayments identified: 45,907
- Average arrears payment: £5,591
- Total amount repaid: £250.6m
Widowed (Cat B)
- Cases reviewed: 445,188
- Underpayments identified: 39,706
- Average arrears payment: £11,905
- Total amount repaid: £417.2m
Over 80 (Cat D)
- Cases reviewed: 90,720
- Underpayments identified: 33,437
- Average arrears payment: £2,202
- Total amount repaid: £68.2m
State Pension underpayments progress – Home Responsibilities Protection
The DWP estimates it underpaid between £300 million and £1.5 billion of State Pension because of errors with the recording of HRP.
HMRC has issued over 370,000 letters to people who may have been underpaid their State Pension due to missing information on their National Insurance (NI) record. The issue affects mostly women in their 60s and 70s who may have HRP missing from their NI record.
HRP was a scheme designed to help 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 mandatory to include a NI number on claims so people claiming after this point will not have been affected. It is estimated tens of thousands of people are due an average of £5,000 in back payments.
HRP underpayments – September 2024
- Underpayments identified: 5,344
- Average arrears payment: £7,859
- Total amount repaid: £42m
Personal representatives are able to claim on behalf of deceased customers. For more information on eligibility and how to claim, visit the dedicated HRP page on GOV.UK here.
State Pension National Insurance Credits
Some people who received Universal Credit may not have had their National Insurance Credits correctly attributed to their National Insurance record held by HMRC which could affect 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 put in place 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.
With the issues now resolved between the DWP and HMRC systems, claims data relating to the affected years can now be successfully processed by HMRC. When 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.
A phone call to the Pension Service is the quickest way to find out if you have been underpaid your State Pension. The best number to call is 0800 731 0469, lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday – full contact details can be found on the GOV.UK website here.