Grandparents who assist in caring for their grandchildren during the February half-term could potentially increase their state pension by up to £6,600. If you are below state pension age and provide childcare for your grandkids, you may be eligible for Specified Adult Childcare Credits, a form of National Insurance Credits designed to fill gaps in your National Insurance record.
Research by Quilter indicates that each year of transferred credit can result in an additional £330 in state pension income for 2025/26, potentially amounting to nearly £6,600 over a 20-year retirement period. To qualify, you must have been below state pension age (currently 66) while caring for a child under 12 years old, or under 17 if the child has a disability.
There is no minimum hourly requirement to qualify for Specified Adult Childcare Credits, making it possible to qualify even if you only provided childcare one day a week. Claims can also be backdated to 2011, allowing individuals who have stopped caring for the child to still claim the credits.
To be eligible, the parent of the child must be receiving Child Benefit, as they will transfer the National Insurance Credit to the grandparent. It’s crucial for the parent to ensure they are still building their own National Insurance record for retirement to avoid any impact on their state pension forecast.
Apart from grandparents, other relatives like aunts, uncles, or anyone regularly caring for a child may also be eligible to make a claim. Most individuals need 35 qualifying National Insurance years to receive the full new state pension, which is £230.25 per week, with a minimum requirement of ten years to receive any pension benefits.
To claim Specified Adult Childcare Credits, you need to fill out form CA9176 on GOV.UK, which requires signatures from both you and the parent transferring the Credit. Quilter’s Freedom of Information request to HMRC revealed that there were 42,964 applications for Specified Adult Childcare Credits between October 2023 and September 2024, with a total of 131,594 applications submitted over the past five years, of which 104,433 were approved.
Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, emphasized the importance of increasing awareness about these credits, as each year of credit can potentially boost state pension income by £330. Many eligible grandparents may be missing out on significant benefits due to lack of awareness or knowledge about the application process. Greer suggested that the government should make efforts to raise awareness, especially among lower-income families and communities where gaps in National Insurance records are more common.