State pension: Grandparents can claim extra £3,000 a year for helping with childcare

Grandparents can claim an extra £3,000 for helping out with childcare in a huge boost.

Despite suggestions that the UK has passed through the worst of the cost of living crisis, many families have still had to make drastic cuts to their spending in order to keep themselves afloat as energy bills and the price of other necessities soar.

Some have resorted to stopping their childcare, turning instead to other family members to look after young children while they are at work.

Many grandparents are unaware that they are eligible for extra money for giving their time up to look after their grandchildren.

They could receive an additional £275 in credits a year from the Government.

Over 15,000 applications were approved between October 2018 and September 2019.

The scheme applies to a grandparent aged under state pension age looking after a child under 12 years old whose parent returns to work.

The National Insurance paying parent no longer needs the National Insurance credit that comes with receipt of child benefit.

This can be signed over to the family member who is looking after their child, at no cost to themselves.

These credits can instead be added onto the National Insurance record of the grandparents, helping them to build a full state pension.

These claims can be backdated to as far back as April 2011, when the scheme was first launched.

This means that if someone has been caring for a child since 2011, they could collect over £3,000 per year.

Helen Morrissey, a pension specialist at Royal London, said: “Grandparents have long carried out a vital service in taking care of grandchildren whose parents return to work and it is positive that this benefit exists to ensure those under state pension age do not miss out on national insurance credits.

Those eligible to apply must be a family member caring for a child under 12, and they must be over 16 but under the state pension age.

The current state pension age is 66.

They must also be a resident of the UK and the child’s parent must be eligible for Child Benefit.

The parents of the child must also agree to the application and countersign it.