The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued an update on the thousands of state pensioners who are owed over £11,000 due to Government mistakes.
The latest figures reveal those affected are owed up to £11,905 each in back payments, as part of the State Pension Underpayments Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) exercise.
The DWP has identified 119,050 state pension underpayments worth £736million through its ongoing correction exercise.
The initial review, which began in January 2021, uncovered systematic underpayments affecting married women, widows, and those over 80 who reached state pension age before April 2016.
The DWP has already paid out £417.2million to 39,706 widows.
The Department has completed its review of cases involving married women, civil partnerships and those over 80, and progress remains on track for all remaining widow cases to be completed by the end of 2024, according to the latest DWP update.
The DWP has already paid out £417.2million to 39,706 widows
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Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The number of people who have been underpaid their state pension is shocking.
“And this isn’t the final number either, because the DWP hasn’t finished uncovering the full extent of underpayments yet.”
The DWP has issued £250.6million in back payments to 45,907 married women, with an average payout of £5,591 per case. A further £68.2million has been distributed to 33,437 women over the age of 80, averaging £2,202 each.
The underpayments affected married women whose husbands reached pension age before 2008, as they were entitled to an enhanced pension that could have boosted their payments by up to 60 per cent.
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To qualify for these payments, claimants’ husbands must have turned 65 before March 17, 2008.
The LEAP exercise has been established to identify underpayments for three main groups of pensioners.
These include
- Category BL (Cat BL): People who are married or in a civil partnership who reached State Pension age before April 6, 2016, and should be entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions.
- Missed conversions: Widowed individuals whose State Pension was not increased to include inherited amounts from their late spouse or civil partner.
- Category D (Cat D): Those who reach age 80 and receive some Basic State Pension but less than the Category D State Pension rate of £101.55 per week (2024/25 rate).
The number of cases reviewed, arrears identified and payments made between January 2021 and September 2024 are listed below.
Married (Cat BL)
- Cases reviewed: 321,142
- Underpayments identified: 45,907
- Average arrears payment: £5,591
- Total amount repaid: £250.6m
Widowed (Cat B)
- Cases reviewed: 445,188
- Underpayments identified: 39,706
- Average arrears payment: £11,905
- Total amount repaid: £417.2m
Over 80 (Cat D)
- Cases reviewed: 90,720
- Underpayments identified: 33,437
- Average arrears payment: £2,202
- Total amount repaid: £68.2m
Between January and September 2024, an additional 344 underpayments have been identified through the Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) corrections exercise, with total arrears of around £42million.
The HRP issue affects mostly women in their 60s and 70s who may have missing information on their National Insurance records.
HMRC has sent over 370,000 letters to potentially affected individuals who might have been entitled to HRP between 1978 and 2010.
It is estimated tens of thousands of people are due an average of £5,000 in back payments through this separate correction exercise.
The DWP estimates it has underpaid between £300million and £1.5billion of State Pension due to errors in recording Home Responsibilities Protection.
Those affected can check their eligibility through the dedicated HRP page on GOV.UK. Personal representatives are able to claim on behalf of deceased customers.
The quickest way to find out about potential underpayments is by calling the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469, with lines open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
The DWP will contact people directly if they are affected by the error, and individuals must respond to any communications to receive repayment. Any missing money will be backdated and paid as a lump sum.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We want to ensure pensioners receive all the support to which they are entitled and have a tool to help them understand what state pension they can inherit.
“Delays can occur to a customer state pension award when not all the information we need is provided.”