Thousands of people could be owed up to £5,000 in missed backpayments. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is issuing payments after an error meant thousands of people did not get the cash.

People who were underpaid their state pension due to issues with National Insurance (NI) and missing home responsibilities protection (HRP) are said to be affected. HRP - which was replaced by National Insurance in 2010 - was aimed at protecting the state pension entitlements of parents and carers.

HMRC is trying to identify who should have had HRP between 1978 and 2010 but do not have it on their record. It means they may have been underpaid their state pension.

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Am I eligible for backpayments and how much could I get?

DWP Pensions Minister Paul Maynard MP said it was estimated there are about 187,000 cases of people who may have an underpayment of state pension. It is estimated the total underpayment is £1,043 million, WalesOnline reports.

His comments came after Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle enquired about the average value of state pension underpayments. In a written response, the Pensions Minister said: "The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway.

"The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.

"In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate value of an underpayment was £5,000 for alive cases above state pension age and £3,000 for deceased cases. We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s annual report and accounts."

Mr Maynard also said the DWP has corrected the Universal Credit data issue for cases impacted for the tax years up to and including 2022/2023. He said: "This data has been shared with HMRC.

"As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly."

How do I check if I am owed money?

It is estimated the average payment due to people is about £5,000. The DWP previously said it hopes to complete backpayments before the end of 2025 and has started rolling them out.

Call the pension service on 0800 731 0469 to find out if you are affected. You can find out more on the GOV.uk website here.