Women urged to check if state pension underpaid

MONEY: Heirs and successors may also be able to claim backdated refund

Married, divorced and widowed women are being urged to check whether they are being underpaid the state pension.

The heirs and successors of women who have been underpaid may also be able to claim a backdated refund.

Pensions consultants LCP (Lane Clark & Peacock) said more than 160,000 people have visited a calculator on its website since it published a report in May titled “Are tens of thousands of older women being underpaid state pension?”

It said that, while some women have been refunded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it is urging more women to get their state pension checked.

Some women have told LCP that they have received large lump sum repayments from the DWP, with the average refund it is aware of sitting at just over £9,000, but some amounting to more than £30,000.

The issue has arisen because, under the old state pension system, married women could claim a basic state pension at 60% of the full rate based on their husband’s contributions, in cases where this would be bigger than the pension they could get based on their own contributions.

Before March 17 2008, a married woman would need to make a claim to have her pension increased - but since that date the uplift should have happened automatically.

But LCP estimates that tens of thousands of “post-march 2008” women have not had their pension automatically increased.

On top of this, tens of thousands of “pre-march 2008” women are also thought not to have put in a claim to have their pension increased, and so have also been missing out.

LCP is urging six particular groups to contact the DWP to see if they could be entitled to more state pension. They are:

Married women whose husband turned 65 before March 17 2008 and who have never claimed an uplift to the 60% rate;

Widows whose pension was not increased when their husband died;

Widows whose pension is now correct, but who think they may have been underpaid while their late husband was still alive, particularly if he reached the age of 65 after March 17 2008;

Over-80s who are receiving a basic pension of less than £80.45;

Widowers and heirs of married women, where the woman has now died but was underpaid state pension during her lifetime;

Divorced women, particularly those who divorced after retirement, to check that they are benefiting from the contributions of their ex-husband.

A spokesman for the DWP said: “We are aware of a number of cases where individuals have been underpaid state pension.”

The DWP said it would encourage anyone who thinks they have failed to claim a state pension increase they are eligible for to contact the department.