More women have been underpaid state pension than previously thought

11 Jul 2022

Figures published by the government have revealed that more women have been underpaid their state pension than previously thought.

The data found that 237,000 pensioners were underpaid their state pension. £1.5 billion in state pension payments has been underpaid, the government revealed.

This equates to 105,000 more affected individuals than calculated in 2021. Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found that this number includes widows and divorcees who may have been underpaid their state pension for years.

A report on the issue carried out by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that pension underpayments were a result of outdated systems and the manual processing of pensions at the DWP.

Commenting on the matter, a spokesperson for the National Audit Office (NAO), said: 'DWP has carried out additional reviews of its records to understand the pensioners that may be affected, but the full extent of the underpayments will not be known until every case has been reviewed.'