HMRC chief urges thousands to check NI record
In a recent statement HMRC’s chief executive has flagged a problem affecting the NI records of tens of thousands of taxpayers. The trouble concerns anyone entitled to child benefit between 1978 and 2000. What steps are needed to correct the problem?
Parents looking after children are entitled to adjustments to their NI record to ensure they don’t lose out on state pension entitlement. However, tens of thousands of people who claimed child benefit between 1978 and 2000 could be receiving too little in state pension because their NI records were not adjusted for home responsibilities protection (HRP). We initially reported this back in October 2024, but the scale of the problem appears to be greater than first thought. HRP reduced the number of qualifying years of NI contributions needed for the pre full basic state pension. While NI records were automatically adjusted between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 2010 (when HRP was replace by NI credits), prior to May 2000 many child benefit claimants didn’t provide their NI number meaning they may not have benefited from HRP. According to the government’s latest figures the average total loss to date of state pension for each person affected is over £7,850.
Those who claimed child benefit between 1978 and 2000 should check their NI records to see if they are eligible to make a claim for HRP. HMRC has also produced a short video about HRP on LinkedIn if you’re unsure as to what it relates to.
Related Topics
-
Selling spare items to your company
You’re short of cash but if you use the traditional methods to take more money out of your company you’ll pay higher rate taxes. Is there another way to extract profits without paying income tax or NI?
-
No such thing as a (tax) free lunch?
You run a small consultancy company and treat your staff to lunch in the office once a week. Your bookkeeper says it’s a taxable benefit in kind because staff lunches are only exempt if they are provided in a workplace canteen. Is this correct?
-
Judge criticises use of fabricated AI-generated cases in HMRC appeal
A tax tribunal judge has criticised the use of apparently fabricated case references generated by artificial intelligence in an appeal against HMRC. The incident highlights growing concerns over the use of AI tools in legal and tax proceedings. What happened?