30,000 retirees hit by state pension bungle

PENSIONERS are being told to check their National Insurance records after it emerged that thousands of people are being paid too little state pension.

Mistakes in official records mean around 30,000 people are being underpaid the state pension, the Department for Work and Pensions has admitted.

It is feared that many people are missing out because of incorrect information held on government computers.

The state pension is calculated on how much National Insurance people have paid over a lifetime. This information is held by HM Revenue & Customs, but it relies on employers’ figures.

If those details are wrong, you may receive too little.

A Government spokesman said that it was up to people to ensure their records are correct: ‘To give people more control over their NI record, we also set up the “Check your State Pension” online service, which allows people to review gaps in their records and provides a forecast of the amount of pension they get.’

The revelations come after the DWP admitted that tens of thousands of women who stayed home to care for their children could receive too little.

These women’s state pension entitlement was based on their child benefit records, but child benefit and NI records were kept on two computer systems and it is feared many errors could have occurred when the systems were combined. Former pensions minister Steve Webb says a further 50,000 workers who are yet to retire could end up with the wrong payments.

The taxman says savers should ask HMRC for forecasts of their state pensions or sign up for a personal tax account at gov.uk/personal-tax-account to check their NI records.