Anyone who had children between 1978 and 2010 'could be owed £10,000s'

Martin Lewis has issued a bit of advice for Brits who could be entitled to tens of thousands of pounds due to an administrative mistake from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The money and personal finance expert has taken to his podcast to warn people who were born in a 32-year period that they could be set for back payments.

Apparently, one person claimed to have been given £31,000 due to this blunder, as Lewis revealed that 'a State Pension error' which mainly affects women aged 40 to 90.

He explained that it 'especially' applies to those in their 60s and 70s, adding: "It’s for people who took time off work between 1978 and 2010 to look after their children or to care for someone who is long-term disabled."

British parents could be entitled to thousands from HMRC (Getty Stock Images)

Home Responsibilities Protection claim

The Money Saving Expert added that there was a scheme called 'Home Responsibilities Protection' (HRP), which was supposed to give individuals 'National Insurance years' which would replace ones you weren't getting by working - this is key to get a full State Pension.

Lewis went on: "But it’s possible over 100,000 women didn’t.

"And while the government had been trying to contact those women, it has stopped doing so now, so the onus is on you. To show you how big this could be, Cilla got in touch with me and said, ‘I’ve just received 15 years back pay from HMRC of £31,674 for underpayment of my pension, thank you’."

HMRC uses National Insurance records to work out who may have qualified for HRP from 1978 to 2010 while not having any registered on their record, sending letters to those who may have been affected.

Martin Lewis told parents to head to Gov.uk to check their eligiblity (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

While the last letters should have been received by June 2025, HMRC said many people didn't take action 'as they assumed it was a scam or was not relevant to them'.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it may owe pensioners between £300 million and £1.5 billion in State Pension due to mistakes made with recording HRP in particular.

The HRP programme was first introduced to safeguard parents' and carers' State Pension entitlements - though this would be replaced with NI credits from 6 April, 2010.

How to check if you're missing Home Responsibilities Protection

"So what you need to do is you need to go onto gov.uk to see if you’re projected to get the full State Pension," Lewis urged.

The 53-year-old went on: "If you’re not, you need to see when your gaps in years were, were they between 1978 and 2010, and if so were they the years that you were not working to look after your children or someone who had long-term disabilities.

"If they were, you need to go and do your research on Home Responsibilities Protection, because you could be owed money."

You can apply using the online service or the postal form CF411.

Lewis' MoneySavingExpert site recommends submitting your application 'as soon as you can'.

HMRC sent letters to individuals likely to be affected by missing Home Responsibilities Protection, but many didn't take action (Getty Stock Images)

What has HMRC said?

HMRC has also spoken on the matter, saying that you will be sent a letter if it believes you are missing HRP.

"We want to help you make sure you receive the right amount of State Pension, so we’re asking you to check if you were eligible for HRP between 1978 and 2010," the department said, adding that you could qualify if you received Child Benefit for a child under 16.

"The letter will tell you how you can check if you’re eligible to claim missing Home Responsibilities Protection and how to make a claim," HMRC stated.