DWP state pension boost: Thousands get back payments up to £11,905 - full list of those affected
In the last three years, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has found 119,050 retirees who were not receiving the full amount of their state pension because of an issue within the system.
These retirees received significant retroactive payments, with an average of £11,905 for each individual.
The DWP has finished making adjustments for married women, civil partners, and individuals over the age of 80.
The most recent update from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) indicates that progress is on schedule for resolving widowed cases before the end of the year.
There are three main types of underpayments related to State Pension:
The LEAP initiative was started in response to the DWP's findings in 2020 that a significant number of people hadn't been given the automatic increases to their State Pension that they were entitled to by law.
This program has turned into the largest effort by the DWP to address underpayment issues so far.
The program has grown to be the biggest effort by the DWP to fix underpayment issues so far.
The DWP Leap initiative aims to pinpoint possible state pension underpayments among the following groups of individuals:
Among married couples and civil partners (Category BL), there were 45,907 instances of underpayment found in a review of 321,142 cases, resulting in an average owed amount of £5,591.
In the category of widows, a total of 39,706 underpayments were identified from a review of 445,188 cases, with the average payment amounting to £11,905, which was the highest among the categories.
Among individuals aged 80 and older (Category D), 33,437 instances of underpayment were identified out of a total of 90,720 cases examined, with the average owed amount being £2,202.
A recent task conducted by HMRC has revealed that from January 8, 2024, until the end of September, an additional 5,344 instances of underpayment have been uncovered through the HRP corrections process. On average, these individuals are owed state pension underpayments totaling £7,859.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates that mistakes in tracking Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) resulted in state pension underpayments ranging from £300 million to £1.5 billion. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has sent out over 370,000 letters to individuals who might be affected, mostly targeting women in their 60s and 70s.
HMRC is analyzing National Insurance records to find individuals who may have qualified for Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) from 1978 to 2010 but do not have any HRP reflected in their NI records.
Starting in May 2000, it was required to provide a National Insurance number on claims. Therefore, individuals filing claims after that date wouldn't have been impacted.
HMRC is currently looking over National Insurance records to find people who may have qualified for HRP from 1978 to 2010.
Some people who received Universal Credit might find that their National Insurance Credits are not fully accounted for in the records maintained by HMRC, which could have an impact on their state pension.
This problem took place from 2017 to 2018 and again from 2022 to 2023, during which time the National Insurance Recording System was unable to process information regarding Universal Credit eligibility.
During this time, the DWP established a manual process in coordination with HMRC to revise the impacted records. The problems with the system have now been fixed, enabling the successful processing of claims data.
The fastest way to find out about any underpayments is to reach out to the Pension Service at 0800 731 0469. Their phone lines are available from 8 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday.
