DWP warning over letter going out to all state pensioners as you could be owed £8,377

State pensioners have been urged to look out for a key detail in their annual uprating letter, as some could be owed more than £8,000 in underpayments. HMRC was asked for an update on its efforts to contact people who have been affected by the missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) issue, which has resulted in thousands of people being underpaid their state pension.

The issue mostly affects women, as HRP was a historical DWP programme through which payments cover a person's National Insurance (NI) contribution while being out of work caring for children or a disabled adult. But administrative errors meant many people did not have HRP applied, meaning their state pension entitlement was lower than it should have been. HRP ran from 1978 to 2010, although anyone who claimed the support after 2000 will not have been affected, as from this year NI number were required on applications.

A government spokesperson said recently: "We're determined to help people who've been left out of pocket due to historical errors which are no fault of their own. That's why we wrote to more than 370,000 people potentially affected, and launched an online tool to help people check if they can claim.

"We ran an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record." Ministers said they will continue their efforts to raise awareness among those who may have been affected.

The spokesperson said: "The government will continue to signpost people to where they can find out more information about HRP and to the support we have available, via ongoing communications activity. For example, DWP now includes information on HRP in annual state pension uprating letters."

The state pension increases each April from the start of the new tax year, on April 6. Letters go out to inform people how much their DWP and HMRC benefits are increasing around this time.

The Government said the average arrears payments owing to the HRP issue was £8,377 as of March 2025. Anyone who thinks HRP is missing from their NI record can apply for it to be added online.

Once this has been received, HMRC will determine number of years of NI that should be added to the record, and then the DWP will apply this to the state pension eligibility and decide if this will affect payment rates.

If you apply for HRP and you disagree with the decision, you will either need to contact the DWP or HMRC. You should contact the DWP if the issue relates to your state pension amount and you should contact HMRC if it relates to your NI record.