Home Responsibilities Protection

This section is for you if you think you may be entitled to Home Responsibilities Protection. It is divided into:

• how Home Responsibilities Protection works;
• who needs to make a claim;
• who does not need to make a claim;
• how to claim; and
• the time limits for claiming.

Home Responsibilities Protection is not a benefit. It helps protect your basic State Pension and since 6 April 2002 can also help you build up additional State Pension through the State Second Pension. Home Responsibilities Protection helps protect the State Pension position of carers, both men and women, by:

• reducing the number of qualifying years they need to build up the full basic State Pension; and
• helping them build up additional State Pension through State Second Pension.

But you will need a certain number of qualifying years on top of any years you were getting Home Responsibilities Protection to get the full basic State Pension.

Jane left school at 16 and went to work for a local supermarket where she met her future husband. After the couple were married, Jane continued to work and paid standard-rate National Insurance contributions. She gave birth to their first child Sasha in August 1978. Jane stopped working to look after her. Two years later she gave birth to Linda. Jane claimed Child Benefit until Linda left college at 18. Jane was automatically entitled to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) up until the end of the tax year before Linda was 16 (a total of 17 years). HRP helped protect Jane’s entitlement to the basic State Pension for the years she was at home caring for her children.

After Linda left college, Jane decided to go back to work for a further two years, but she then needed to be at home again to look after her mother who had become disabled. Jane made a claim for Home Responsibilities Protection which was awarded until she reached State Pension age two years later. When Jane claimed her State Pension, she had paid National Insurance contributions for 22 years and had been awarded HRP for a further 19 years of her working life (a total of 41 years). As this totalled more than the 39 years in which she had to make National Insurance contributions, she was awarded a full basic State Pension.

You can find more information about the number of qualifying years you need in the leaflet State pensions – Your guide (PM2). You must have been caring for a full tax year to get Home Responsibilities Protection for that year.

Married women and widows cannot get Home Responsibilities Protection for any tax year in which they have chosen to pay reduced-rate National Insurance contributions.