Home Responsibilities Protection
What you'll get
The amount of State Pension you may get at State Pension age is based on your National Insurance record and the number of ‘qualifying years’ you have.
A qualifying year is a year when:
- you were working and paid National Insurance
- you were getting National Insurance credits, for example if you were unemployed, ill or a parent or carer
- you were paying voluntary National Insurance contributions
If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2010
Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) reduced the number of qualifying years you needed to get the full basic State Pension by up to 22 years.
To get a full basic State Pension a woman needed 39 qualifying years and a man 44 qualifying years.
If you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010
HRP was converted into National Insurance credits, if you needed them, up to a maximum of 22 qualifying years.
If you reached State Pension age between 6 April 2010 and 5 April 2016
You needed 30 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get the full basic state pension.
If you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
You may have been entitled to Additional State Pension if you qualified for HRP because you:
- got Child Benefit for a child under the age of 6
- were looking after a sick or disabled person (including a child over the age of 6) who was getting certain benefits
If you reached State Pension age after 6 April 2016
You may be eligible for the new State Pension.