DWP pockets £1bn from ‘giving up' on mothers' state pensions
Hundreds of thousands of women who claimed child benefit missed out on National Insurance top ups because of DWP administrative errors dating as far back as 1978.
In an attempt to rectify the failures, the DWP started writing to women last year, however, it has now admitted it may not be able to track down all of the women affected.
Industry experts said the Government had 'all but given up' on mothers, and that retirees would suffer because of its 'dismal failure' to track them down.
Home responsibilities protection (HRP) should have been granted automatically to anyone who took time off work to care for family and who also claimed child benefit between April 6 1978 and April 5 2010.
The DWP initially set aside £1.2bn to top up these state pensions. The department's latest annual report shows that it has so far corrected the records of just 12,379 pensioners, paying out £104m. The average HRP arrears paid by the DWP was £8,377 between January 2024 and March 2025.
But the report also shows the department now expects to spend just £29.8m on future corrections – a reduction of over £1bn.
The DWP had previously estimated the state pensions of 90pc of eligible people would be corrected. This has fallen to just 8pc. It means the Government now expects more than nine in 10 of those who are thought to be eligible will not get what they are entitled to.
This is primarily due to the failure of the Government's own letter-writing campaign to 370,000 taxpayers to raise awareness last year, which had an 'extremely poor response', according to pension consultancy firm LCP.
Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, now a partner at LCP, said it was 'totally unacceptable' that the Government had 'all but given up' on underpaid mothers.
He added: 'The DWP's latest report is a hammer blow to over 100,000 mothers who are receiving reduced state pensions because of errors on their National Insurance record.
'The Government's letter-writing campaign has been a dismal failure, and this was entirely predictable given its reliance on a complicated online claims process.
'Although there will still be some ongoing publicity, the figures in the annual report are an admission that the Government itself does not expect these efforts to have much impact.'
Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, urged the DWP not to 'give up' on contacting those affected.
She added: 'The DWP has mis-managed state pension payments for thousands of people, and should be doing its level best to put the situation right.
'But relying on people self-claiming is a dangerous route to take – some may not understand the letter they have received, or be nervous about self-checking, maybe thinking that the letter is a scam.
'The state pension can be fiendishly complicated to understand. Lots of people might not realise they're not getting the full amount.
'If anyone has received a letter, or knows someone who has received a letter, then they should call the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500 who will be able to support them in making a claim.'
For those reaching state pension age before April 6 2010, HRP reduced the number of qualifying years you needed to get the full basic (old) state pension by up to 22 years. Otherwise, women needed 39 qualifying years, while men required 44 qualifying years.
A qualifying year is one in which you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions – usually through working – or received National Insurance credits.
If you reached state pension age between April 6 2010 and April 5 2016, you needed 30 qualifying years on your NI record to get the full basic state pension.
Those reaching state pension age after this will receive the new state pension, and usually require 35 qualifying years to get the full amount.
A DWP spokesman said: 'We are determined to help people who have been left out of pocket as a result of historical errors which are no fault of their own.
'That's why we wrote directly to over 370,000 of those who were potentially affected and launched an online tool to help people check if they needed to claim.
'We carried out an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record.'
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