Thousands of married women could be owed £10,000 each from DWP

A major update has been issued after 100,000 state pensioners were underpaid £10,000 each due to an error

Thousands of women born before this date could be owed £10k each from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). A major update has been issued after 100,000 state pensioners were underpaid £10,000 each due to an error

The Labour Party government could be forced to hand hundreds of millions of pounds to state pensioners, aged 66 and over, so born before 1958. Former Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webb criticised the previous system, calling it “archaic and sexist”.

“This is a major milestone in a long-running campaign for justice for thousands of married women,” he said. “The fact that they did not know this was needed indicates a system which let them down and has cost them in many cases thousands of pounds through no fault of their own.”

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Before a rule change in March 2008, married women could claim their state pension at 60 based on their own record of National Insurance contributions. This meant that if they had spent time out of work raising a family, this could be as low as 25 per cent of the full basic pension.

However, this could be uplifted to a 60 per cent pension based on their husband's contribution once he drew his state pension. Before the uplift was made automatic in 2008, women had to apply to get the full sum they were due, Sir Steve Webb has warned.

An uplift in the state pension would only happen if another state pension application was made once their husband retired. This meant that thousands of women missed out because they assumed that they would be paid the correct rate and not have to apply again.

Sir Steve estimates that some of these women will have lost out by £10,000 or more in the period since their husband retired. An online tool launched by Sir Steve Webb on behalf of actuarial firm LCP can help married women check if they might be affected.

You can then contact the pension service to get your state pension entitlement reviewed.