\n\t\t\t\t\tA recent DWP report shows the government expects to pay out much less in arrears to mothers than previously expected\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
There has been a \u201cshocking\u201d reduction in the number of state pension<\/a> arrears the government expects to pay out to mothers who were underpaid.<\/p>\n Until now, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)<\/a> had assumed it would reach about 9 in 10 of mothers who missed out on payments due to errors on their national insurance<\/a> (NI) records \u2013 and had set aside over \u00a31bn for arrears payment.<\/p>\n But a DWP report for 2024-25, published on Thursday, shows that it expects the take up rate of reclaiming the payments to drop from 90 per cent to 8 per cent, following a failed mass letter-writing campaign.<\/p>\n It also expects the amount it pays out in arrears to be as little as \u00a3104m. <\/p>\n The issue has arisen because many thousands of mothers are missing \u201cHome Responsibilities Protection (HRP)\u201d on their NI record \u2013 a form of protection for the NI record of mothers (and some fathers) who received child benefit <\/a>for a child under 16 since 1978.<\/p>\n Such years should have generated a form of NI credit which would have helped to boost the state pension of many such women.<\/p>\n However, when the DWP undertook full sample checks of state pensions following a previous set of large-scale errors, it discovered many cases where mothers did not have HRP on their record. <\/p>\n This largely arose from claims made before 2000 where it was not required to put an NI number on the child benefit claim form and therefore such claims were not linked to the NI record correctly.<\/p>\n To track down such women, the government undertook a publicity campaign which included letters from HMRC to 370,000 people, of which 257,000 are already over pension age<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the letters told people to use an online checker to see if they were entitled and to use an online claim form to apply. The response to these letters was poor, with recipients put off by the online claim process, thinking the letters might be scams, or not understanding the issue.<\/p>\n