DWP shares new plans to fix 237,000 State Pension underpayments during next year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The most recent report by the public spending watchdog on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) accounts has revealed that around 237,000 people over State Pension age have been underpaid a total of £1.46 billion.

The underpayments average around £8,900 per person. Earlier this month, Jenny Holt, Managing Director, customer savings and investments at Standard Life explained that the people most likely to have been affected by these underpayments are those who reached State Pension age before April 2016, particularly if they didn’t have a full National Insurance record or full State Pension entitlement.

And this week, Pensions Minister, Laura Trott, has announced that by the end of March next year, the DWP plans to have around “1300 staff dedicated” to the State Pension underpayments LEAP exercise.Her response came after Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth MP, asked DWP “what steps it is taking to increase the speed of rectifying the underpayment of the State Pension to 237,000 people”.

In a written response on November 15, Ms Trott said: “The Government is fully committed to ensuring that these historical errors, made by successive Governments, are addressed as quickly as possible.