Guidance

Report a financial loss from the delay to the replacement credits service

Find out if your State Pension will be affected by the delay to National Insurance replacement credits for parents and carers, and how to tell HMRC.

From: HM Revenue & Customs Published 30 March 2026 Get emails about this page Print this page The National Insurance replacement credits service has been delayed until April 2027. Most eligible parents and carers will not be affected by the delay to the service and can still apply for credits when the service opens in April 2027.

You may be able to claim National Insurance replacement credits if:

• you are a parent or carer
• you were eligible to claim Child Benefit (but did not claim it) for a child under 12 from 7 January 2013

Check if you are affected by the delay

You may be affected by the delay to the service if either of the following apply:

• you are already over State Pension age — from 6 April 2016 onwards
• you will reach State Pension age before 6 April 2027

Check if you can report a financial loss

You can ask HMRC to check your case if all the following apply:

• you were eligible for Child Benefit at any time from 7 January 2013
• you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 and before 6 April 2027
• you believe the delay in introducing replacement credits has directly reduced your State Pension payments
• no one else has already claimed Child Benefit for the same child for the same dates or reported a financial loss To report any financial loss you’ll need to follow the HMRC complaints process.

What to include in your report

You’ll need to tell us:

• if you are the parent or carer
• your National Insurance number
• your date of birth
• your full address
• the date of birth of the child (they must be aged under 12 for the period you’re claiming for)
• the dates you believe you were eligible for Child Benefit
• the date you reached or will reach State Pension age You must include ‘RCPC’ as reference when you give details of your complaint.

How to report a financial loss

Report online

To report your financial loss, you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the HMRC complaints online service.
2. Confirm if your address is in the UK or overseas.
3. Choose ‘Make a new complaint’.
4. Choose the option ‘National Insurance including refunds, automatic and voluntary contributions, credits and National Insurance numbers’.
5. Give details of your complaint — use the information we’ve asked you to include and the reference ‘RCPC’.
6. Choose if you want HMRC to contact you by telephone and a best time of day to contact you.
7. Choose if HMRC can contact you by email.
8. Complete the declaration and send it to HMRC. You’ll need to sign in to use this service. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.

Report online

Report by telephone or post

To report a financial loss you can either:

• call National Insurance enquiries
• write to National Insurance and employer complaints — quote RCPC as your reference

What happens next

Once you’ve submitted your complaint, we will review it and contact you if we need more information. You may not hear from us straight away, as the replacement credits service starts in April 2027. If we need more information, we’ll get in touch before then.

If we agree that the delay impacts your State Pension, we will:

• calculate the one-off payment based on any State Pension impact from the date you contacted us until 6 April 2027
• make the payment from April 2027 when the replacement credits service opens

Updates to this page

Published 30 March 2026

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