Pensioners urged to check for £6,000 state pension boost

Grandparents who regularly look after their grandchildren could be eligible for a significant income boost. Specified adult childcare credits (SACCs) were introduced in 2011 to support those caring for a family member's children, contributing towards their future state pension.

The National Insurance credit received by a parent or carer claiming Child Benefit can be transferred weekly as Class 3 National Insurance credit for each week of care provided. Despite more than 12 million people in the UK claiming state pension, only around 150,000 applications for SACCs have been made in the past eight years, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data.

In total, applicants can see their state pension rise by £328 per year, or around £6,000 across the whole of an average retirement period. It comes after a study from SunLife found that 59 per cent of grandparents provide frequent childcare for their grandchildren - equating to an average of 18 hours per week.

If those providing the childcare were paid for their time, they would be owed a slaray of around £11,000 a year.

According to official government guidance, you may be entitled to the credits if you meet both of the following:

A full list of who qualifies as a family member can be found on GOV.UK here.

You can send in an application for the credits so long as you meet one of the following:

Applications for SACC can only be made after October 31 of the tax year you wish to claim for, as checks will need to be made if the parent or main carer of the child has a qualifying year for National Insurance reasons.

To apply, you'll need to fill out a form online, print it off and send it to HMRC via post. The address you need to send the form to is included on the form itself,