The latest release from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) into State Pension underpayment errors shows that between January 2021 and February 2023, the administration exercise identified 46,716 cases were due arrears of £300.1 million. The previous update issued in November 2022 indicated 31,817 underpayments had been identified and £209.3 million repaid to claimants.
However, it is estimated as many as 237,000 pensioners have been underpaid around £1.46 billion. The issue largely affects women retiring under the old State Pension system (before 2016) 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. But, Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, warns that despite the progress identifying underpayments, the DWP has “a mountain still to climb”.
