Women urged to find out if state pension is being underpaid
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?”
Itsaidthat,whilesomewomen 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 per cent 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 17 March 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.
Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister who is now a partner at LCP, said: “It is good news that DWP is checking its records to find married women who have been underpaid ... But this record check must be comprehensive rather than narrow.”
Sir Steve said some of these women are in the process of approaching the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and he has written in support.
A spokesman for the DWP said: “We are aware of a number of cases where individuals have been underpaid state pension. We corrected our records and reimbursed those affected as soon as errors were identified.
“We are checking for further cases, and if any are found awards will also be reviewed and any arrears paid.”
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.