Home Responsibilities Protection

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Overview

Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) was a scheme to help protect parents’ and carers’ State Pension. National Insurance credits replaced HRP in 2010.

You’ll have received HRP automatically if between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 2010 you were claiming:

  • Child Benefit for a child under 16
  • Income Support because you were looking after a sick or disabled person and were not available for work

You’ll need to apply for HRP if you think it’s missing from your National Insurance (NI) record.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

Who can apply

You may still be able to apply for HRP if, for full tax years (6 April to 5 April) between 1978 and 2010, you were either:

  • sharing the care of a child under 16 with a partner you lived with and they claimed Child Benefit instead of you - you may be able to  transfer their HRP
  • caring for a sick or disabled person

You can also apply if, for a full tax year between 2003 and 2010, you were either:

  • a foster carer
  • caring for a friend or family member’s child (‘kinship carer’) in Scotland

If you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010

Any HRP you had for full tax years before 6 April 2010 was automatically converted into National Insurance credits, if you needed them, up to a maximum of 22 qualifying years.