The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates 134,000 older people were underpaid over £1 billion in State Pension from as far back as 1985 with an unknown number of those believed to have died without ever receiving the money they were owed.
The long-term underpayment of State Pensioners has been branded a “shameful shambles” by a public spending watchdog.
In January 2021, DWP started an exercise to correct the errors – the ninth such exercise since 2018, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said. The errors mostly affect widows, divorcees and women who rely on their husband’s pension contributions for some of their pension.
