A "shocking" state pension failure has resulted in Britons being owed thousands of pounds that will never be reimbursed, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted.
Some 100,000 parents and carers have been impacted by a National Insurance error, which has led to households not accruing the contributions needed to get the full retirement benefit.
As it stands, Britons need to have 35 years of National Insurance contributions under their belt to get the full, new state pension or 10 years to get any sum of money at all.
Parents or carers who claimed child benefit between 1978 and 2010 would have able to claim Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), which would have rewarded them a credit on their National Insurance record to boost their state pension entitlement.
Pensioners are owed thousands of pounds due to a National Insurance error
GETTY
However, systematic errors have meant that many Child Benefit recipients before 2000 did not receive their National Insurance credits and are owed state pension payments.
Analysts have warned that some households are owed thousands of pounds, with some parents and carers being hit with a "shocking" £4,500 state pension shortfall.
According to the Government, this issue mostly impacts stay-at-home mothers now in their sixties and seventies.
The DWP started contacting individuals it thought may be missing the protection from their National Insurance contributions back in 2012.
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Older Britons are worried about their pension income
GETTYThose affected by the error are encouraged to make a claim and address any potential arrears.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which is the department responsible for administering the benefit, wrote to 370,000 people who are believed to have lost income.
This included 257,000 who were already over state pension age of 66, with this correction exercise coming to an end in April 2025.
In 2024, the DWP estimated it would be able to reach and correct the records of 90 per cent of people owed state pension.
Earlier this week, the Government department reduced this estimate to only eight per cent with the majority of those entitled to a state pension boost now expected to not receive it.
Furthermore, the Government has slashed the amount reserved to settle any arrears from £1billion to around just £29million.
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PASteve Webb, a former pensions minister and partner LCP, said: "The figures are a shocking reduction in the amount of state pension arrears that the DWP now expects to pay out to mothers with errors on their national insurance record.
"It has been a dismal failure and this was entirely predictable given its reliance on a complicated online claims process. Although there will still be some publicity, the latest figures are an admission that the Government does not expect these efforts to have much impact.
"It has all but given up on these mothers and this is totally unacceptable. It is time for a fresh campaign of direct mail to the women potentially affected, this time making it much easier for women to apply, supported by a fresh publicity blitz."
The DWP confirmed that addressing Home Responsibilities Protection claims has been "inherently challenging" and said that the low numbers claiming arrears was down to some believing that the HMRC letters were a scam.