New evidence indicates that a new group of state pensioners appear to have errors on their state pension and could claim up to £12,400 worth of back payments.
New Group of People Could be Entitled to Up to £12,400 in State Pension Back Payments
By Chourouk Derkaoui
Published on 14 October 2024 15:45
A new group of pensioners might have errors on their state pension, which could lead to annual underpayments equalling around £2,000.
According to former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, who is currently a partner at LCP (Lane Clark and Peacock), many people have been underpaid and should receive back payments, according to BirminghamLive.
Concerns Over Inherited State Pension Errors Prompt Calls for DWP Investigation
The former pensions minister revealed that the group consists of individuals who claim the New State Pension, and who happened to be widowed when they retired, this situation is a bit complicated and relates to inherited State Pensions according to the Daily Record. Therefore, LCP has provided an online tool to help people figure out how much they should receive.
Sir Steve stated: “Having had to spend years checking hundreds of thousands of historic State Pension calculations for errors, you would hope that DWP would be making sure that new claims are handled correctly. But we have found worrying evidence that this is not the case.”
He highlighted a particular issue for those who are widows or widowers when they claim their State Pension, noting that in certain cases, the Department for Work and Pensions seems to have failed to automatically add any inherited State Pension they were due from a late partner. Sir Steve is currently pressing the DWP to urgently launch an investigation into the extent of this issue.
Who Might be Impacted by the Underpayments?
According to Sir Steve, the new group includes people who were widows or widowers when they were about to claim their New State Pension and where either the spouse who has passed attained the pension age before April 6, 2016 or where they passed before April 6, 2016.
The specific sum of inherited State Pension is based on people's circumstances. It may be higher if the late spouse worked for a company instead of being self-employed and the widowed spouse is not getting a widow’s pension from a company pension scheme, since this can partially substitute any inherited State Pension due.