Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) State Pension underpayments: LEAP exercise to 31 March 2025
Published 22 May 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp-state-pension-underpayments-progress-on-cases-reviewed-to-31-march-2025/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp-state-pension-underpayments-leap-exercise-to-31-march-2025
This publication is classified as Management Information. These documents are published in the interest of transparency and are not part of our regular Official and Accredited Official Statistics publications.
This publication updates the previous release of 7 November 2024 on the Management Information relating to a LEAP exercise to correct underpayments of the State Pension due to missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP).
Customers continue to be able to apply to HMRC to have missing HRP added to their National Insurance. DWP will then correct the State Pension entitlement for State Pension recipients and pay any arrears due.
1. Purpose of the release
This analysis is published for the purpose of transparency and accountability.
It includes information on the progress of the exercise to check and correct individual cases, and the amount of arrears repaid to date.
2. Progress to 31 March 2025
Between 8 January 2024 and 31 March 2025, the exercise has identified 12,379 underpayments and paid out total arrears of around £104m.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| HMRC - Letters sent | 370,018 |
| HMRC - Number of hits on eligibility checker | (see note 1) |
| HMRC - Number of applications processed under State Pension age | 8,639 |
| HMRC - Number of applications processed over State Pension age (see note 2) | 44,296 |
| DWP - Number of cases received from HMRC | 22,781 |
| DWP - Number of cases processed (see note 3) | 21,878 |
| DWP - Number of cases with arrears identified | 12,379 |
| DWP - Total arrears paid | £104m |
| DWP - Average arrears paid (see note 4) | £8,377 |
Notes to table:
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The previous MI publication Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) State Pension underpayments: progress on cases reviewed to 30 September 2024 included the number of hits recorded on the HMRC eligibility checker – up to the end of September 2024, 493,813 hits were recorded. Since then, the method of collecting data on interactions with the tracker has changed and it is not possible to provide a consistent number to represent the entire period. Between October 2024 and March 2025, an average of 2,000 individuals per month accessed the eligibility checker.
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Of cases processed by HM Revenue and Customers (HMRC) over State Pension age, only those identified as missing contribution years due to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) are passed to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
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Not all cases processed by DWP have an underpayment. Cases may already have the qualifying years for a full state pension, may already receive a higher state pension inherited from their spouse, or may still not be entitled to state pension as all conditions not met.
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Average arrears paid includes all cases identified with arrears due to missing HRP. This average includes cases where the arrears amount owed is £0 due to their receipt of other benefits.
Total arrears paid has been rounded to the nearest £1m and average arrears paid has been rounded to the nearest £1.
3. Statement of compliance with the code of practice of statistics
The Code of Practice for Statistics is built around 3 main concepts:
- Trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics
- Quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics
- Value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs
Trustworthiness
Progress on the State Pension Legal Entitlement and Administrative Practices (LEAP) exercise is based on DWP management information supplied through:
- Individually reviewed cases to find customers that have been underpaid and the amount they are owed, and to learn why they have been underpaid.
- DWP’s computer system that holds alive and deceased State Pension cases.
Quality
DWP analysts have engaged with operational staff to ensure the quality of the data is fit-for-purpose and have analysed data to help understand the customers most likely to have been underpaid, whilst offering a robust sense check of values against other outputs for comparable periods.
Correction rates and arrears amounts are likely to change as the exercise progresses, due to varying characteristics of the individuals affected.
Value
This release provides a progress update on the department’s LEAP exercise to correct underpayments of the State Pension due to missing HRP.
To support financial planning and management of departmental business, figures have been seen in advance by ministers and officials. This is in line with the Code, where pre-release access does not apply for releases based on routine management information – as covered in paragraph 3.6 of the National Statistician’s Guidance
Statistics enquiries
For statistics enquires only, email: dwpsp.analyticalbriefing@dwp.gov.uk