Women over State Pension age could be due up to £6,900 in back payments this year
14.03.2023 - 23:41
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
At the start of this year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that it expects to complete the correction exercise into State Pension underpayments for two groups of women by the end of 2023. The Pensions Minister Laura Trott MP said the exercise for those on CAT BL and CAT D should be completed by the end of this year, but it could run through to late 2024.
This may be due to a further 100,000 State Pension cases which have been identified as having a possible underpayment. This means that DWP will be looking at 700,000 State Pension awards for errors, as opposed to the previously estimated 400,000, and could take an extra year to complete the exercise under the current run-rate.
The two groups of women include married women who should have received an upgraded State Pension and those aged over 80.
The latest figures from DWP show that £209.3million 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 motley women, some men may have been underpaid too.
However, it’s important for anyone who receives an arrears payment that it may affect other entitlement.
In the latest Local Authority Welfare bulletin, which offers updates and guidance to advisors, it states that when a State Pension underpayment is identified, DWP will contact the individual to inform them of the changes to their State Pension amount and of any arrears payment they will receive.
It adds that any arrears due will be backdated to the date they became entitled to an increased