The wives and widows left short changed by THOUSANDS

State pension blunders have denied retired women vital income for years — but few realise how much they’re owed. Now, as campaigners demand an inquiry, could YOU be one of ...

ANEW pension scandal has seen married women miss out on thousands of pounds they were entitled to in retirement. One widow has now won back more than £100,000 after it emerged government blunders have denied some women a better-paying state pension for years.

Former pensions minister Steve Webb revealed in analysis on Saturday that around 130,000 women may have been short-changed to the tune of £100million in total.

Campaigners are now calling for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to conduct a full investigation into how many women have missed out and how it was allowed to happen.

Some women have even won backdated pension payments worth tens of thousands of pounds — despite initial assurances from the DWP that they were getting the income to which they were entitled.

Mr Webb, a partner at pension consultancy Lane Clark & Peacock, says more than 24,000 people have now used an online calculator he created to determine whether or not they could be owed money. And of those, close to 1,500 had indicated they could be being underpaid.

The scandal was first unearthed by This Is Money, the Mail’s financial website, after a reader wrote to Mr Webb when his wife found out she had been underpaid for 13 years.

Mr Webb is now calling on the Government to act. He says: ‘We have had a huge response from people wanting to check if this issue applies to them. But it should not be down to us or campaigning newspapers to get people the right amount of state pension. The ball is now in the Government’s court.

‘We have presented the evidence of a serious problem. They should now use their records to check for any woman who could be getting a higher pension and put things right as a matter of urgency.’

Meanwhile, writing in Money Mail today, Baroness Altmann, another former pensions minister, also demands an inquiry. She says: ‘It appears some women have slipped through the net, but we don’t know how many and we don’t know why — which is deeply troubling. We need to know what has gone wrong.’

ARE YOU ENTITLED TO A BIGGER PENSION?

MARRIED, widowed or divorced women who did not pay enough contributions to get the full state pension are entitled a rate based on their husband’s record.

The rule applies to those who retired before April 2016 and, therefore, collect the basic state pension.

The boost dates back to an era when wives were typically financially dependent on their husbands and did not pay enough National Insurance (NI) contributions to earn a full pension in their own right.

These married women may have stopped work to bring up children, or paid reduced NI contributions. It means married women are entitled to 60 pc of the amount of their husbands’ basic pension. So if your husband receives a full basic state pension, which is now £134.25 a week, then you should be receiving the married woman’s rate of at least £80.45 a week. If not, you could be one of those affected.

Wives are not typically entitled to claim a rate based on any additional state pension their husband is paid on top.

Mr Webb’s analysis of government figures has revealed around 130,000 married women might be being underpaid because they are not receiving 60 pc of basic state pension.

A married woman can only begin claiming the increased rate from when her husband begins to collect his state pension.

To receive a full basic state pension under the old system, you need to have up to 44 years of NI contributions. A report by the Pensions Commission found that in the early 2000s, 85 pc of men aged 65 to 69 were collecting the full state pension — compared with just 31 pc of women.

Women only get a pension based on their husband’s NI record if their own contributions do not entitle them to more than the married woman’s rate. If their husband retired before March 17, 2008, women had to claim the increased income themselves.

If they did not make a claim, they can do so now to receive the rate going forward. But they can only receive payments backdated for a year. For women whose husbands reached state pension age after March 17, 2008, the upgraded payments should have been applied automatically by the DWP. If not, they are entitled to receive all payments backdated.

The married woman’s rate can also not be claimed if the retiree has moved to a country such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand or South Africa, where their state pension is frozen.

WIDOWS OWED SAME PAY AS HUSBAND

WIDOWS can be entitled to an even higher rate of 100 pc of their late husband’s basic pension under the old state pension system.

This is because the rules allow them to use their late husband’s NI contributions for their own pension.

So, if a woman’s husband was collecting the full basic weekly rate of £134.25 when he died, her pension should have been automatically increased to that rate.

But Mr Webb estimates that tens of thousands of widows could be receiving less than even the married woman’s rate.

He adds: ‘It would be a cause of particular concern if elderly widows were getting by on such small state pensions. This issue should be investigated as a matter of ur

DIVORCEES COULD DUE, TOO

IT IS also feared that div women could have missed extra state pension cash; the can claim a full pension ba their ex-husband’s work recor

When a woman reaches pension age, she can claim pension from her ex-husban contribution record up to th they divorced.

Divorcees may be entitled t the full basic state pension £134.25 a week; more than the married woman’s rate.

If a woman has divorced second time after remarrying, NI record of her most recent husband that applies. But, ag Webb’s analysis found that thousands of divorced wome