Due to a miscalculation by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), tens of thousands of state pensioners have received payouts, and many more may still be entitled money.
The DWP discovered that many women had received state pensions that were underpaid, and for the past three years, the pension department has been trying to reimburse those who were impacted by the problem.
According to the most recent data, the DWP found 82,323 underpayments between January 2021 and October 2023; the compensation for these underpayments came to £497 million.
The underpayments affected certain groups of women who reached state pensions before April 2016. This is because, after this date, a woman’s pension was no longer linked to their husband’s.
The three groups of women affected by the underpayments were married women, widows, and those over 80.
Of those identified 37,488 married pensioners received an average payment of £5,931 each. More than 26,940 people over the age of 80 got an average of £2,245 each and a total of 17,894 widowed retirees were paid out an average of £12,383 per person.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), payments totaling approximately £1.17 billion are anticipated, with over 170,000 pensioners being owed money. This project is anticipated to be completed by the DWP in late 2024.
Those affected will be contacted by the DWP as soon as their case has been evaluated. The pensions department will likely send you a letter confirming how much back pay you are entitled to.
Who was affected by the DWP’s state pension underpayments?
According to the DWP’s update, three groups were affected by underpayments and these include:
- Category BL (Cat BL) – People who were married or in a civil partnership who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016 and should’ve been entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions
- Missed conversions – People who have been widowed and their state pension was not increased to include any amounts they were entitled to inherit from their late husband, wife or civil partner
- Category D (Cat D) – People who reached age 80 and who were getting some basic state pension but less than £85.00 (in 2022-23) and may therefore, subject to satisfying the appropriate residency conditions, be entitled to Cat D state pension of £85.00 a week
If you believe you are owed pension back payments, you should not contact the DWP but instead should call the Pension Service.
This is usually the quickest way to find out if you are eligible for a repayment. You can call the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469. Full contact details can be found on the Gov.uk website here.