{"id":754239,"date":"2026-08-30T05:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T05:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754239\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T05:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T05:10:14","slug":"check-your-post-as-hmrc-letter-could-mean-53-but-many-go-in-bin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754239\/","title":{"rendered":"Check your post as HMRC letter could mean \u00a353 \u2013 but many go in bin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The taxman is beginning a major letter-writing campaign this month to identify people who may have missed out on pension tax relief because of the way their workplace pension operates.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Eligible workers will be invited to claim a \u201clow earner\u2019s pension payment\u201d, with a 2021 Government consultation estimating the average payment could be around \u00a353.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Around three quarters of the people affected are thought to be women.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  HMRC says payments are expected to start flowing \u201cin the next few months\u201d as claims are received, with the letters being rolled out gradually until early 2027.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  But former pensions minister Steve Webb has issued a stark warning that many recipients may simply throw the letter away.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The LCP partner said people could be suspicious of an unexpected letter from HMRC offering them money \u2013 and some could even mistake it for a scam.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: \u201cThe process of getting these payments to the right people is going to be incredibly painful and there is a real risk of huge non take-up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cMost people will not have a clue about this issue and may be suspicious of a letter out of the blue from HMRC offering them free money,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n    Good morning, we&#8217;re here until 8pm to answer your general queries. No personal details please. \u274e<\/p>\n<p>Recognising and reporting scams helps protect taxpayers across the UK. \u2705<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re unsure if the contact you\u2019ve received is a scam, report it below. \u2b07\ufe0f<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/znakmBePUb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/znakmBePUb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rtppBJdwLm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/rtppBJdwLm<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n    \u2014 HMRC Customer Support (@HMRCcustomers) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HMRCcustomers\/status\/2085622016539816179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 7, 2026<\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<p>  \u201cSome may suspect it is a scam\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n  The issue affects low earners who were enrolled into workplace pension schemes using a Net Pay Arrangement.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Under this system, pension contributions are taken from pay before income tax is calculated.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  That normally works well for taxpayers because it reduces their taxable income.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  But workers who earn below the income tax threshold do not have an income tax bill to reduce.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This means they can miss out on the 20 per cent pension tax relief that they would have received if their workplace scheme used the alternative Relief At Source system.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  For example, someone paying \u00a380 into a Relief At Source pension receives a \u00a320 top-up from HMRC, taking the contribution to \u00a3100.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The problem has become more significant because automatic enrolment can apply to people earning \u00a310,000 or more, even if they are below the income tax threshold.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Changes mean eligible people can now claim a top-up for pension contributions made from the 2024\/25 tax year onwards.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  HMRC will initially contact people about payments for 2024\/25. Those who register should then be able to benefit from a more automated process for later years.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Webb said it was crucial that people recognised the letters as genuine and understood that they could be entitled to money.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Recommended reading:\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: \u201cIt is clearly unfair that around 1 million low earners have missed out on pension tax relief, simply because of the way in which their workplace pension is administered.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cIt is vital that communications are effective to make sure that people get the money to which they are entitled.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The first payments are expected within the coming months, but the warning is clear: check any genuine HMRC letter before putting it in the bin.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Have you had an HMRC letter you thought was a scam? Tell us in the comments below&#8230;\n<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The taxman is beginning a major letter-writing campaign this month to identify people who may have missed out&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-754239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}