Thousands of pensioners across the UK could still be owed State Pension back payments as the DWP continues to correct historic errors linked to National Insurance records.
New figures released by the DWP show that mistakes involving Home Responsibilities Protection remain the biggest cause of State Pension underpayments, with the department and HMRC continuing a major exercise to identify affected people and issue arrears payments. According to the DWP’s latest Fraud and Error in the Benefit System report, HRP-related mistakes account for around £6 in every £10 underpaid due to National Insurance contribution errors.
HRP was a scheme in place between 1978 and 2010 designed to protect the State Pension entitlement of parents and carers who spent time out of work looking after children or disabled relatives.
However, some eligible years were not properly recorded on National Insurance records, leaving many people with lower State Pension payments than they should have received.
Based on the DWP guidance and the groups most commonly affected by Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) errors, there are five main groups of people who could be owed State Pension back payments:
The DWP said: “Some people have not had all eligible years of HRP recorded on their National Insurance records and so have an incomplete record affecting their State Pension entitlement.”
As part of an ongoing correction programme known as the Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) exercise, HMRC has already sent more than 370,000 letters encouraging people to check whether they may have been affected.
Officials are using National Insurance records to identify people who may have qualified for HRP between 1978 and 2010 but have no corresponding credits recorded.
The latest figures show State Pension underpayments remained at around £390 million in the year to April 2026, with National Insurance contribution errors continuing to account for a significant proportion of cases.
People who believe they may have missing HRP years can check their National Insurance record and State Pension forecast online through GOV.UK.
Individuals can still apply to have missing HRP added to their record even if they have already reached State Pension age.
The DWP and HMRC say they will continue reviewing cases, correcting records and making back payments to those found to have received less State Pension than they were entitled to.