Around 100,000 people are entitled to up to £6,000 according to Martin Lewis, who has urged people to make a claim. Speaking on his ITV Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday, February 21, the money expert warned people to act now.
He said: "Make sure you look this up if it smells like it is relevant to you or someone you know. There are hundreds of thousands due an average of £6,000 back in underpaid state pensions because of a former DWP error...married women and widows may have been underpaid. It's complicated." You can get more money news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Read more: Martin Lewis warns of deadline for everyone aged 45 to 70 that could be worth thousands
Explaining the situation in more detail, Martin said: "If the old state pension, so those aged 70 or above roughly, was less than 60% of their husband's, first of all there's some automatic top-ups and backdating and they're working through it now so you'll get them.
"If your husband was 65 after March 16, 2008, and the wife's pension didn't rise when he retired and it's under 60% you may get that top-up. There's also an automatic top-up for any woman aged 80+ who was paid under £85 per week on the state pension. But going back to the big theme, the old state pension under 60%, you will need to claim it. There are free tools online and you can call the pension service to chat."
Martin advised the public that some claims could be backdated by up to a year even if the woman had since died, the Liverpool Echo reported. He said: "It's way too complicated to spend too long on so go and do your reading if you may be in this category. Basically, if you're a woman aged over 70 and you got a very low state pension then you need to go and do some reading on this."
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