Two groups of people could be owed an average of £6,929 each from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in 2023.
The DWP expects to complete a correction exercise after two groups of women were underpaid State Pension. The Pensions Minister said the exercise for those on CAT BL and CAT D should be completed in 2023, but could run through to “late 2024”.
These two groups include married women who should have received an upgraded State Pension and those aged over 80, the Daily Record reports.
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Recent DWP figures 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. The latest report also shows that arrears payments made to affected married women average £6,929 and for those over 80, £3,172.
While the check and correction exercise affects mostly women, some men may have been underpaid too.
The latest update comes after shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth MP, asked the DWP if it would be setting out a timeline for “repaying the remaining 200,000 pensioners identified in 2020 as having been underpaid their State Pension”.
In a written response earlier this month, Pensions Minister Laura Trott MP, said: “As stated in DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022, the Department expects to complete the exercise for CAT BL and CAT D by the end of 2023. For missed conversion cases, we aim to complete these as soon as we can but for this group the exercise could run through to late 2024.
“The Government is fully committed to ensuring that any historical errors, unaddressed by previous Governments, are put right as quickly as possible. We have increased the number of people working on the exercise and at its peak, we plan to have around 1,500 staff dedicated to the exercise.
“Our delivery is backloaded, with case reviews expected to significantly increase this year and going forward.”
Who may be due back payments for State Pension?
There are six particular groups strongly encouraged to contact the pension service to see if they could be entitled to more State Pension.
- Married women whose husband turned 65 before March 17, 2008 and who have never claimed an uplift to the 60% rate
- Widows whose pension was not increased when their husband died
- Widows whose pension is now correct, but who think they may have been underpaid while their late husband was still alive, particularly if he reached the age of 65 after March 17, 2008
- Over-80s who are receiving a basic State Pension of less than £80.45
- Widowers and heirs of married women, where the woman has now died but was underpaid state pension during her lifetime
- Divorced women, particularly those who divorced after retirement, to check that they are benefiting from the contributions of their ex-husband
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