The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is looking into "possible remedies" after admitting to an error which has seen millions of State Pension claimants being underpaid.
A computer glitch that dates back to the 1990s means the amount of Graduated Retirement Benefit (GRB) was miscalculated. GRB is a form of additional State Pension payment to top up your basic pension, Leicester Live reports.
A spokesperson for the DWP said: "A decision was made in 2002 not to make changes or corrections given the system's complexity and minimal impact on individuals, until a new computer system was introduced. The Department is assessing the scale of this issue and investigating potential remedies."
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An error on a monumentally large scale, former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, who said he was never told about the problem, said: "The scale of these errors is truly mind-blowing.
"It beggars belief to hear that a government department could simply decide that it was acceptable to pay the wrong rate of pension for decades, but feel under no duty to tell Parliament or the public. If the DWP has sat on this secret for decades, it makes you wonder how many other things simply get brushed under the carpet."
Official DWP research published in May 2022, revealed state pensioners were underpaid by a total of £540 million. However, most people were only wrongly paid 1p or 2p under what they should have received each week.
According to reports, the department will most likely recognise the error and issue you with a single payment for all that is due. However, as the problem has been detected as going as far back as the nineties, some people are looking at taking it into their own hands.
If you believe you may have been underpaid by the DWP, you can reach out to them directly for advice. You can call the Pensions Service on 0800 731 0469.
On the pensions scandal Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, said: "It is essential that the Government takes care to ensure it is paid out correctly. Even though the UK state pension is quite low by comparison with other rich, developed countries, it makes up the majority of pension income for most people in the country."
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