State pension payments for women

That this House notes with great concern that thousands of parents, mostly mothers, who took time out of work to care of their children have been underpaid their state pension as a result of maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions which was first identified in July 2022; acknowledges that this error relates to those who claimed home responsibilities protection which was introduced in 1978 to protect state pensions of parents or carers before the introduction of national insurance credits in 2010; is concerned that this error is believed to be the second largest source of state pension errors after the underpayments scandal that has affected around 237,000 people, overwhelmingly women, who reached state pension age before April 2016; understands that this error arose because periods of home responsibilities protection were not recorded accurately resulting in those affected having fewer national insurance contributions credited to them and that those people have received a lower state pension as a result; is disappointed to learn that the DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 has warned that it could take until late 2024 before all those affected have this error corrected; and urges the UK Government to launch a public awareness campaign to ensure that all those potentially affected are alerted about how they can check their national insurance record and claim any missing home responsibilities protection credits so that they can claim the correct level of their rightful state pension as soon as possible.