HMRC sending letters to 60,000 bereaved families who are owed £5,000 each

HMRC is writing to 210,000 Britons as they could be eligible for £5,000. The move from the government tax department comes in the wake of a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) State Pension error.

The issue primarily impacts women in their 60s and 70s who claimed Child Benefit between 1978 and 2000. Their National Insurance credits - which contribute towards your state pension entitlement if you're not working - were not correctly transferred.

A spokesperson for the DWP said: "The action we are taking now will correct historical underpayments made by successive Governments. We are fully committed to addressing these errors, not identified under previous Governments, as quickly as possible.

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"We have set up a dedicated team and devoted significant resources towards completing this." Until 2010, these National Insurance credits were known as Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP). HRP reduced the number of qualifying years needed to claim the state pension for parents and carers.

If someone claimed Child Benefit and didn't include their National Insurance number on the form, their HRP credits may not have been correctly transferred to their National Insurance record. It's estimated that 210,000 people may have been impacted. Of this figure, 60,000 are now deceased - and their families can make a claim for any money owed.

Those of pensionable age are being prioritised for contact, with ministers previously stating that the majority of those affected by the mistake will be reached by April next year. The average pay-out is around £5,000, but in some instances, it can amount to tens of thousands of pounds.

People affected include those who had to be receiving child benefit in your own name (not that of a spouse or partner) and had a child who was under 16 for the whole of the financial year in question. To be affected, you must not have been paying the married woman’s "reduced stamp".