Ask Rose

It's not a scam but takes a hell of a time to happen! I applied last November and still wait to know whether I can get the money - or not, they occasionally send me emails to apologise for the wait...

ps: no exchange of money has been handed over to them

If you have a lower state pension because of missing years when you were claiming child benefit Ask Rose will investigate this for you. It's no win no fee. If you are owed money Ask Rose takes around 35%.

You can do the investigation yourself through the government portal and not give a third to Ask Rose.

I don't understand this. My years of Child benefit were automatically included in the calculation of qualifying years of NIC contributions towards the state pension. I'm wondering how people could have been missed out.

(Yes, I was a dreaded SAHM)'.

I'd second OldFrill's advice and go through the government portal.

I had to claim but I knew about it before I reached pension age. I was a proud SAHM.

This is what the latest National Insurance Fund Annual Report to 31 March 2025, dated 27 November 2025 says:

Underpayment of State Pension – Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP)

[An issue causing] underpayment of State Pension was identified in 2021 to 2022 in connection with HRP. DWP’s annual fraud and error exercise identified administrative discrepancies in the recording of HRP on some customers’ National Insurance records, resulting in State Pension errors. In response, the government launched a dedicated correction exercise involving both HMRC and DWP.

Despite extensive communications, a low number of people applied to correct their missing HRP. Following significant operational effort, DWP and HMRC jointly decided to conclude the exercise in April 2025, after which any remaining cases will be managed through business-as-usual processes.

Due to the low response rate, HMRC’s Internal Audit team completed an assurance review and made 5 recommendations. 2 have been completed and the remaining 3 are expected to be completed by March 2026.

Between January 2024 and March 2025, 21,878 claimant records were reviewed by DWP and 12,379 underpayments identified, with total arrears paid of approximately £104 million.

DWP has recognised a provision of £30 million in their 2024 to 2025 Annual Report & Account, though the final value remains subject to change as outstanding cases are resolved.

In other words, there could still be £30 million in underpaid pension.

I applied 2 months ago and am considering phoning for an update. I didn't use Ask Rose but took Martin Lewis's advice and applied directly. If boheminan has been waiting for almost a year, I might hold on for another month.

Thank you for all your comments.