Martin Lewis warns over 'scam' letter to women who took time off work for childcare

If you've recently received a letter in the post from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and threw it away, you might want to go rooting through your bins.

It's not uncommon to get scam messages from what looks to be HMRC, but Martin Lewis has assured people that one letter that could appear as a fake is in fact real - and could massively help you boost your pension.

According to Lewis, hundreds of thousands of people will have received the letter recently, many of which will be women over the age of 66 who might have taken time off work for childcare between 1978 and 2010.

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These women may be missing out on something known as 'home responsibilities protection' (HRP) - a scheme to help protect parents' and carers' State Pension - and could be owed thousands of pounds in underpaid pensions.

The Money Saving Expert blog post didn't fully detail what will be said on the HMRC letter, but did share that it will be titled 'You may be eligible for home responsibilities protection' and will direct you to visit the gov.uk HRP page.

On the page, you'll be able to check if you're eligible for the pension boost and, if you are, you can submit a claim.

If you haven't received a letter and think you could be eligible, then hang fire on contacting HMRC just yet, as apparently they are currently prioritising those 'most immediately affected'.

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Lewis' advice comes after the money expert issued more useful guidance last month to people earning less than £60,000 a year.

It was reported that around £19 billion worth of benefits are going unclaimed every year, and Lewis urged people to do a simple 10 minute online check to see if they're eligible for any benefits.

"We've long urged you to check to make sure you get all the benefits you're entitled to, knowing millions were due a share of billions," he said in a newsletter at the time.

"And many most in need of help, often having long paid into the system, are missing out."

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Lewis further spoke about using Policy in Practice, which is a social policy software and analytics company working with councils, government, housing providers and community organisations.

Their benefit and budgeting calculator is linked to gov.uk and helps people find out what support they may be eligible for.

Apparently Universal Credit is the most common benefit that almost one million people have been 'missing out' on.