As many as 100,000 people could be owed up to £6,000 because of a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) error, money man Martin Lewis has said. He spoke about it during his ITV show on Tuesday.
Mr Lewis explained that people should act to make sure they get what they're owed, saying: "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."
He went on to say that married women and widows may have been unpaid. He added that it was "complicated", reports the Liverpool ECHO.
Mr Lewis went on: "If the old state pension, so those ages 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 were 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."
Mr Lewis went on to advise that some claims could be backdated by up to a year even if the woman has since died, adding: "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."
