Frequently Asked Questions About State Pension Underpayments

State Pension rules have changed over time. In particular, many rules involving a spouse, civil partner, former partner or bereavement depend on whether you and the other person reached State Pension age before or after 6 April 2016.

Dates of marriage, civil partnership, divorce, bereavement and State Pension entitlement may all affect the checks that are relevant.

Home Responsibilities Protection, usually called HRP, was designed to protect the State Pension position of some parents and carers between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 2010.

HRP was replaced by National Insurance credits in 2010. Some people may still have HRP missing from their historic National Insurance record.

No. Missing HRP may affect your National Insurance record, but it does not automatically mean your State Pension has been underpaid.

HMRC must first decide whether your record should be corrected. DWP then decides whether that correction changes your State Pension or creates arrears.

It may be possible where Child Benefit was recorded in a spouse's or partner's name, but you were the person mainly caring for the child.

Conditions apply, so a transfer is not automatic. We review the relevant years and family circumstances before deciding whether an application may be appropriate.

Possibly. Some people covered by the older basic State Pension rules may qualify for an increase based partly on a spouse's or civil partner's National Insurance record.

This is not a general uplift for everyone who is married or in a civil partnership. The rules depend on both people's dates and pension records.

Some widows, widowers and surviving civil partners may be able to inherit part of a deceased partner's State Pension.

This may involve basic State Pension, Additional State Pension, a protected payment or an amount created by deferring State Pension. The rules depend on dates and individual circumstances.

The over-80 pension, also called a Category D State Pension, may provide an amount to some people aged 80 or over who receive little or no basic State Pension.

It is subject to residence and other conditions. It is not available to people who reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016.

It can. Under older rules, some divorced people may be able to use a former spouse's or civil partner's National Insurance record when calculating basic State Pension.

A court may also have made a pension-sharing order involving Additional State Pension or a protected payment. Divorce does not automatically create an entitlement, so the dates and court documents must be checked.

Other issues may include missing employment or self-employment contributions, missing National Insurance credits, incorrect names or dates, incomplete partner records, unrecorded pension-sharing information or historic administrative errors.

No. We may decide that further evidence is needed, that a different enquiry is more appropriate or that the information does not currently support a claim.

We do not submit a claim simply because an initial eligibility check has been completed.

Yes. You can contact HMRC, DWP or the Pension Service yourself, and government application services are available free of charge.

Customers choose Kensbridge when they want help identifying relevant issues, organising information, preparing documents and managing correspondence.

No. We cannot guarantee that HMRC or DWP will accept a correction or claim, increase your pension or pay arrears.

Eligibility, payment amounts and outcomes depend on the applicable rules and your individual evidence and circumstances.

If we accept your case, you may be asked to sign authority documents allowing Kensbridge to communicate with the relevant authority about the matter being reviewed.

Kensbridge is independent. We are not part of HMRC or DWP and are not endorsed by them.

We do not act as your attorney, appointee or deputy, and we cannot receive your State Pension or Pension Credit arrears. Any arrears are paid directly to you by DWP.

Not always. Original documents can be helpful, but many customers no longer have paperwork from several decades ago.

HMRC or DWP may hold relevant records. However, they may ask for further information or supporting evidence where their records are incomplete.

Tell us what you know and explain why other details are unavailable. This may happen because of divorce, separation, bereavement, estrangement or a loss of contact.

Do not guess. We will review the available information before deciding what action may be appropriate.

Yes. A National Insurance record may show missing contributions or credits, while a State Pension forecast may help someone below State Pension age understand their expected entitlement.

These records are useful starting points, but they do not always identify every historic relationship, bereavement or administrative issue.

There is no single or guaranteed timescale. Some matters can take several months, while complex cases may take longer.

The overall time depends on the type of issue, the information available, whether further evidence is required and how long HMRC or DWP takes to respond.

We provide updates by email, SMS, telephone or post, as appropriate. You can also contact our team if you have a question about your case.

We may not have a substantive update while HMRC or DWP is still considering the matter, but we will continue to monitor the case and follow up where appropriate.

Kensbridge operates on a No Win, No Fee basis for cases we accept under our Conditional Fee Agreement.

Our success fee is 30% of any arrears actually received, plus VAT at 20%. This is a total of 36% of the arrears actually received.

There are no upfront fees. If an accepted claim is unsuccessful and no arrears are paid, you pay £0.

DWP pays any State Pension arrears directly to you. Kensbridge does not receive the arrears on your behalf.

If your case is successful, Kensbridge issues a separate invoice and fee breakdown after the arrears have been evidenced or otherwise reasonably confirmed. Payment is due within 14 days of the invoice date.

Payment can be made by bank transfer, debit card or payment link, telephone-assisted payment, cheque by post or another reasonable method agreed with Kensbridge.

Contact us if you need help making payment. Where appropriate, we may agree a payment plan.

If no arrears are paid to you following an accepted No Win, No Fee case, you do not pay a success fee.

Yes. You have a 14-day cooling-off period beginning on the date you accept the Conditional Fee Agreement. If you cancel within that period, no fee or charge is payable.

You can also end your instructions later. However, the Conditional Fee Agreement explains when a success fee may still become payable if arrears are later paid following work carried out by Kensbridge.

Please contact us. Paper documents, postal correspondence, telephone support and telephone-assisted payment options are available where needed.

We will take reasonable steps to support customers who are digitally excluded or need extra help understanding the process.

A review by Kensbridge does not itself change your pension. HMRC and DWP make any decision about your National Insurance record and State Pension.

Where a missing HRP correction is accepted, official guidance states that the person's State Pension will increase or remain the same; it will not decrease. Other issues are considered under their own rules.

There is no single backdating period that applies to every type of State Pension underpayment.

DWP calculates arrears using the cause of the underpayment, the date entitlement arose and the rules that applied at the time.

It may still be worth checking in some circumstances. Receiving the current full basic or new State Pension rate does not necessarily answer whether you were underpaid in an earlier period or missed an inherited, additional or protected amount.

However, a record correction may not increase your pension, and no arrears are guaranteed.

Yes. State Pension and State Pension arrears can affect the amount of Income Tax you pay. An increase in regular pension income may also affect means-tested benefits, including Pension Credit.

HMRC or DWP will explain how an award is treated. You should seek appropriate tax or benefits advice if you are unsure how a payment affects you.

Potentially. A next of kin or executor may be able to ask DWP to check whether someone who has died was underpaid State Pension.

DWP will decide whether it can review the case, what evidence is required and whether any amount is due to the estate.