Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) is a scheme which helps protect your State Pension. HRP can help if you're not paying National Insurance contributions because either you don't work, or your earnings are low as you're caring for either a child, or a sick or disabled person.
Currently, you automatically receive Home Responsibilities Protection if you receive either:
- Child Benefit in your name for a child under the age of 16 and you have given the Child Benefit Office your National Insurance number, or
- Income Support and you don't need to register for work because you're caring for someone who's sick or disabled.
You can also apply for HRP if you are either:
- regularly spending at least 35 hours a week looking after someone getting Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate for personal care; or Constant Attendance Allowance, or
- you are a registered foster carer throughout a full tax year and are not getting Child Benefit and are not in paid work, or do not earn enough in a tax year for it to count towards the basic State Pension.
Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) will be replaced with effect from 6 April 2010 by new carers’ credits.
Credits will be awarded to those in receipt of child benefit for a child under the age of 12, or to their partner if the child benefit recipient has a qualifying year by virtue of actual contributions paid.
Credits will also be awarded to those caring for 20 or more hours per week where the person cared for is in receipt of certain benefits (including Attendance Allowance or the highest rate of disablement pension). Gaps of up to 12 weeks in caring are permitted to allow for holidays etc.
The new credit will be given automatically to those receiving child benefit in their own name. Partners and foster carers wishing to receive the credit must make an actual claim to HM Revenue & Customs. In the case of other carers, an actual claim must be made to the Department for Work and Pensions. In either case, the time limit is the end of the tax year following that in which the week or weeks subject to the claim fell. HMRC and DWP have the power to allow further time to claim if they consider it ‘reasonable in the circumstances’.
If you reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2010, complete tax years of Home Responsibilities Protection you have already built up before 2010 will be converted into qualifying years up to a maximum of 22 years. These qualifying years will also count towards bereavement benefits. Posted on 03 Mar 2010
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