Hargreaves Lansdown Helen Morrissey show Department experts Hargreaves Lansdown Helen Morrissey

Married and widowed women over State Pension age could be due up to £10,772 in backdated pay

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dailyrecord.co.uk

New figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that £209.3 million in State Pension underpayments have been repaid to 31,817 pensioners since the correction exercise began in January 2021 and the end of October 2022.

Those who have been underpaid include some pensioners who were married and should have received an upgraded State Pension, people who were widowed and the over-80s.

The new DWP figures show that arrears payments made to married women average £6,929, for widowed pensioners it averages £10,772 and for those over 80, £3,172.While the check and correction exercise affects motley women, some men may have been underpaid too.

One pensions expert said the total repaid so far is a “drop in the ocean” when compared to the amount estimated to have been underpaid overall.Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said: “The data shows the DWP has so far handed back more than £209 million to people affected by State Pension underpayments.“This is progress but a drop in the ocean when compared to the almost £1.5 billion estimated to have been underpaid overall.“In some cases, these underpayments have stretched back decades and even though DWP has pledged to hire more people to speed up the process, it is clear many could be waiting for some time still before they are reunited with their money.”Ms Morrissey added that women retiring under the old Basic State Pension system are primarily affected by underpayments.She explained: “They will have had an expectation their State Pension would be paid correctly and due to an overly complex system this has not happened on a huge scale with many women enduring financial distress as a result.”Payments made between January 2021

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