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A number of grandparents could be missing out on £5,000 from their state pension if they help to care of their grandchildren. This is because they can claim national insurance credits for

looking after their young family members. According to Royal London just 10,000 Britons claimed this top up, but many more a missing out. These credits are known as Specified Adult Childcare

and are worth around £250 a year during retirement. So how does this work? The UK government explained: “Specified Adult Childcare credits work by transferring the NI credit attached to

Child Benefit from the Child Benefit recipient to a family member who is providing care for a related child under 12. “Therefore, if no one has claimed Child Benefit for the child there is

no attached NI credit to transfer and Specified Adult Care credits cannot be awarded.” It went on: “Specified Adult Childcare credits will help build up your National Insurance

contributions. “This means you will receive a Class 3 NI credit for each week or part week you cared for the child (Class 3 NI credits help to build entitlement to the State Pension and,

until April 2017, certain bereavement benefits). “It can help to stop gaps in your National Insurance record.” How do you get these credits? The national insurance credits are earned when

looking after a child, and are claimed by parents who aren’t working. However, when or if a parent chooses to go back to work they can choose to pass these credits on to a grandparent who is

helping to care of their child. What are the rules? The child being cared for must be under the age 12. If two children are being looked after at least one of them must be under the age of

12. The person who claims can only claim once and year and has to be under state pension age. And this doesn’t cover grandparents, other family members can also claim the credits. If you

claim now you can date the credits back to 2011. The parent must be claiming child benefit for the child for another person to recieve the credits. “To apply for Specified Adult Childcare

credits you will need to complete an application form,” the government states. “The application requires the personal details of the applicant – the family member caring for the child,

child’s details and the periods of care, personal details of the child’s parent (or main carer) – the Child Benefit recipient applicant and the parent must both sign their declarations on

the application.” Martin Lewis made a recent urgent state pension warning?