State pensioners over 65 urged to check £7,000 ‘underpayment’ | Personal Finance | Finance
State pensioners over 65 have been urged to check if they are owed £7,000 due to an incorrect ‘underpayment’.
These women include widows, divorcees and those who depend on their husband’s pension contributions for some of their pension entitlement.
Other eligible women are those who reached state pension age before April 2016 and women aged 80 and over.
The issue was flagged by pensions consultancy firm Lane, Clarke & Peacock (LCP) in May 2020, with an official repayment scheme being implemented in January 2021.
The mistake is due to computer errors coupled with a failure by the DWP to increase women’s state pension payments when their husbands reached state pension age, or when they reached the age of 80 or passed away.
If you turned 65 after April 2016, you will be receiving the new state pension amount, therefore the underpayment does not apply.
The DWP claim to have wrote to women impacted but many say they did not get any form of communication, hence why so many people are still owed thousands.
It is believed that many died without ever receiving the correct pension.
Over 230,000 women are thought to have been underpaid, according to former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb.
He said: “The vast majority of those who lost were women, some of whom were underpaid for decades or even went to their grave never paid the right state pension.
“The remaining corrections need to be handled as a matter of urgency. This should never be allowed to happen again.”
Figures show that 130,948 pensioners over State Pension age, mostly women, have got their money back. This ranges from between £2,192 to £12,486 depending on their pension bracket, according to Homecare.
An investigation has been launched by the Parliamentary Ombudsman into the issue after it was highlighted by LCP that women were not aware they had to make a second claim to increase their pension once their husband retired.
This was only addressed on their husband’s state pension form.
