11 January 2024 , 14:52
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Tens of thousands of state pensioners have received payouts after a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) mistake - and many more may be owed cash.
A large number of women were found to have been underpaid their state pension by the DWP and over the last three years the pension department has been working to repay those affected by the issue. The latest figures revealed that between January 2021 and October 2023, the DWP identified 82,323 underpayments - the payouts for these underpayments totalled £497million.
The underpayments affected certain groups of women who reached state pensions before April 2016. This is because, after this date, a woman's pension was no longer linked to their husband's. The three groups of women affected by the underpayments were married women, widows, and those over 80.
Of those identified 37,488 married pensioners received an average payment of £5,931 each. More than 26,940 people over the age of 80 got an average of £2,245 each and a total of 17,894 widowed retirees were paid out an average of £12,383 per person.
The total amount for payouts is expected to be around £1.17billion and around 170,000 pensioners are believed to be owed money, according to the DWP. The DWP is expected to finish this project in late 2024.
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Those affected will be contacted by the DWP as soon as their case has been evaluated. The pensions department will likely send you a letter confirming how much back pay you are entitled to.
If you believe you are owed pension back payments, you should not contact the DWP but instead should call the Pension Service. This is usually the quickest way to find out if you are eligible for a repayment. You can call the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469. Full contact details can be found on the Gov.uk website here.
Who was affected by the DWP's state pension underpayments?
According to the DWP's update, three groups were affected by underpayments and these include:
- Category BL (Cat BL) - People who were married or in a civil partnership who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016 and should've been entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions
- Missed conversions - People who have been widowed and their state pension was not increased to include any amounts they were entitled to inherit from their late husband, wife or civil partner
- Category D (Cat D) - People who reached age 80 and who were getting some basic state pension but less than £85.00 (in 2022-23) and may therefore, subject to satisfying the appropriate residency conditions, be entitled to Cat D state pension of £85.00 a week