DWP pensions error: Thousands of people are losing an average of £7,293 due to a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) error regarding state pensions.
The DWP this week published its Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, which examines every aspect of the department’s spending in the recent financial year, including the underpayment of benefits owed to those who should have received them, and identified fraudulent benefit payments. dwp error pensions
The DWP is currently investigating state pension ‘underpayments’, where people did not receive the money they were entitled to. As part of the ‘Leap’ exercise into state pension underpayments, the organisation is working to identify underpayments being paid to a range of groups.
The money will go to three main groups:
- People who are married or in a civil partnership and who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016 should be eligible for the BL upgrade based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions.
- Excluded conversions: Those people who have become widows and their state pension does not include any amount they are entitled to inherit from their deceased husband, wife or civil partner.
- And finally, people who reach the age of 80 and receive some form of state pension, but less than £101.55, may be entitled to a Category D state pension of £101.55 per week.
Those born before 1944 may be eligible for money under the third category, while those who reached retirement age before April 2016, i.e. those born before 1959 or 1960, may be eligible under the first category.
The report said: “From 11 January 2021 to the end of March 2024, the investigation process has identified 99,558 underpayments, totalling £594m in arrears.
According to current estimates, a total of £970m is owed to 133,000 pensioners and £369m has been provisioned, reflecting the amount of arrears still expected to be paid.
Last year it was estimated that the DWP paid £1.17bn less to 170,000 pensioners. The final total value of the reduced payment will only be confirmed when the exercise is completed.
This means that an average of £7,293 is still owed to each of the 133,000 pensioners, out of the £970m they are owed, but this figure could rise as the review continues.
