A pensions minister has insisted that the UK Government is “working hard” to correct historical State Pension errors and ensure they are not repeated during a debate in the House of Lords on May 16. Conservative frontbencher Viscount Younger of Leckie was speaking after being challenged over official figures that revealed an increase in underpayments from £540 million in 2022 to £670 million in the financial year ending in 2023.
Viscount Younger told Labour peer Lord Davies of Brixton that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has drafted in more than 1,300 staff to tackle State Pension underpayments. The issue largely affects women retiring under the old State Pension system when many did not receive the State Pension payment they were entitled to under their husband’s National Insurance record.
Other women did not get uplifts to their weekly State Pension payments that they were entitled to when their husbands died. Arrears payments can average as much as £11,500, for widowed women.
