Thousands of UK pensioners have been underpaid to the tune of more than £800 million – with some owed up to £11,725, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed. The State Pension errors mean there are two sets of correction exercises being investigated by the DWP.
The first correction exercise relates to married women whose State Pension was not automatically increased when their husbands retired, widows whose State Pension was not automatically reassessed, and individuals over 80 with low State Pensions. The DWP began investigating these specific errors in January 2021. In total £804.7million has been disbursed.
The DWP identified 131,000 cases where pensioners had been underpaid this included 50,261 widowed individuals, 47,004 married women, and 33,683 over-80s with low State Pension income.
In some cases, people may have received an overpayment of another benefit such as pension credit, the department said.
The average arrears for widowed women stands at £11,725, while married women have received an average of £5,553 back. The average award for those over 80 is £2,203.
The second correction exercise was launched in January 2024 and relates to mothers who were claiming Child Benefit before 2000 and may be missing Home Responsibilities Protection on their National Insurance record. This means they may not be getting the correct amount of State Pension, as your entitlement depends on your National Insurance record.
