The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a statement after new analysis revealed that over a million pensioners were underpaid last year.
Processing errors meant that 10.7% of all State Pension cases were underpaid, with around 1.3 million pensioners affected by the mistakes. People on State Pension were underpaid a total of £530 million last year, averaging more than £400 per person, amid the cost of living crisis.
The figures were unearthed in official Government documents about fraud and error in the benefits system, which said that mistakes made by government officials cost benefits and state pension claimants £1.1 billion in the 2021-22 financial year. The Express reported that the significant underpayments were discovered because the Government is now actively carrying out checks, rather than using estimates, suggesting that underpayments could have been much higher in previous years.
