Grandparents helping out with childcare for under-12s can apply for free credits that can boost their state pension by around £359-a-year.

There is no minimum hours requirement, so long as a parent of the child confirms that care was provided and doesn't need the credit to fill a gap in their own National Insurance record.

Knowledge of the credits will be valuable to grandparents as summer holidays loom and many prepare to take on additional childcare responsibilities, says financial services firm Quilter.

Some 160,000 successful claims for annual credits were made between 2016 and 2025 by grandparents or other family members - aunts, uncles and some other relatives are eligible - according to data Quilter obtained from HMRC.

However, more than 40,000 applications were turned down during this period. Find out how the credits work and how to apply below.

Quilter says common reasons for rejection include grandparents having a qualifying year of National Insurance already, often because they are still working or receiving other credits, or because parents were benefiting from the credits themselves.

Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at the firm, says: 'For grandparents who have taken time out of work to support childcare, these credits can make a meaningful difference to retirement income, particularly when compared with the cost of filling gaps through voluntary contributions, which can exceed £900 for a single year.

'For many people, securing the full state pension is a key foundation of later life income, and these credits can offer grandparents a relatively simple way to strengthen their entitlement while helping family with childcare.'

The boost is only available for looking after children whose parents are working, and so don't need the credits from claiming child benefit to go towards their own state pensions.

The headline full state pension is currently £241.30 a week or nearly £12,550 a year. One grandparent credit will boost state pension entitlement by 1/35th.

That works out at £6.90 a week, or around £359 a year, or £7,200 over a 20-year retirement (not taking into account tax) at the current standard rate.

You can put in a retrospective claim for grandparent credits for years stretching back to 2011.

This is especially useful if you are short of the minimum 10 years needed to claim any state pension, or under the 35 years required to get the full rate.

You can get free NI credits towards the state pension for other reasons such as unemployment, disability, or caring for adults.

By comparison, buying state pension top-ups costs £17.45 a week or £923 for a full year at the 2025/26 rate. You are allowed to backdate for the past six years only.

> Check your National Insurance record and your state pension forecast to find out how close you are to getting the full state pension already.

More formally known as 'specified adult childcare credits' these can be applied for from 1 October onward in the year following the tax year for which you intend to claim.

A parent needs to have registered for child benefit, although not necessarily to receive the payments as they can make a 'credits only' claim if one partner earns over the £60,000 limit.

However, the parent must not require the credits for their own state pension, which is common as many go back to work and so pay contributions towards their National Insurance record anyway.

It is important for all families to claim child benefit even if one parent earns £60,000-£80,000 and they don't qualify for all or any of the payments - you can tick a box on the form for 'credits only', to avoid having to fill in annual tax returns.

The Government plans starting from April 2027 to let parents fix costly holes in state pension records if they didn't claim child benefit in the past.

Only one grandparent or other eligible relative can apply for each available NI credit for childcare.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, now a partner at LCP, gave a rundown of the rules on grandparent credits in a column for This is Money a few years ago.

He told readers the key things to remember are:

- There is no minimum hours requirement, and as long as the parent of the child confirms that care was provided by another family member, that person can benefit

- These are National Insurance credits towards future state pension entitlement, so they apply only to those who are currently under pension age

- Signing over the NI credit costs nothing to the parent who is going out to work and making their own NI contributions – this NI credit is 'going spare'

- Provided that the parent either claims child benefit, or even just claims the NI credits only - not the payments if they earn over the limit to qualify - the credits can be signed over

- Although the person caring for the child will often be a grandparent, other family members such as aunts and uncles can also apply.