The DWP has created a website for use by the next of kin of those who believe that a deceased family member was underpaid state pension after pressure from campaigners and requests by the Select Committee to do more.
LCP partner Steve Webb, who discovered the underpayments in the first place, praised the action but noted that it was “long overdue.”
Webb says: “It is welcome, although long overdue, that DWP has provided a way for families to check if a loved one was underpaid state pension. I regularly hear from people who say that an elderly relative was convinced their state pension was too low and who want justice for someone who is no longer with us. This website will allow next of kin and executors to provide details in such cases and get them looked into. I hope that this means that a much higher proportion of underpayments will result in a payout. This process obviously comes too late to benefit the person who was underpaid but at least their family will receive some compensation for the error”.
When the DWP first revealed the extent of the state pension underpayment issue, it was estimated that over 134,000 pensioners had received less than they were entitled to were owed roughly £1b in back pay.
But according to a Public Accounts Committee report released in January 2022, about 40,000 of these individuals have passed away. The 40,000 estimate for the number of deceased who lost out is probably too low because more recent assessments from DWP indicate that the problem’s total scope is significantly more than previously believed.
DWP has stated that it will pay out to next of kin or executors when it can be found in cases where it discovers inaccuracies for those who have passed away. DWP anticipates that it won’t always be able to find the families of thousands of those who have missed out since it won’t always have their contact information.
The newly launched website requests that relatives submit as much information as they can on the deceased, such as the person’s full name, the name of any spouse or partner, their NI number, and their date of birth and death. The DWP claims they will next determine if the individual was underpaid. The site says: “If the person who has died was owed money, we will write to you and let you know what to do next.”
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