State Pension Underpayments
Written by
Sophie
Reviewed by
Richard
Date
March 2025
State Pension underpayments: are you owed money?
How did this happen?
Who has been affected?
What has been paid so far?
How to check if you’re owed money
Next steps
State Pension underpayments: are you owed money?
While the State Pension is designed to offer financial stability in later life, thousands of pensioners—many of them women—have received less than they were entitled to. The issue, affecting payments going back decades, has prompted a large-scale correction effort by the government.
As of September 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had uncovered 119,050 underpayments, totalling £736 million. With reviews still underway, that figure is expected to rise.
HMRC has started sending letters to those identified as being owed money—most commonly women who spent time out of paid work to care for children, and whose National Insurance records didn’t reflect those years.
Here’s what’s behind the issue, who’s likely to be affected, and how to check if you’re owed a refund.
How did this happen?
Many of these errors came to light due to problems within the DWP’s administrative systems. In 2020, officials identified that some pension increases hadn’t been applied automatically as required by law. This prompted a full-scale investigation.
There are three primary causes of the underpayments:
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Cases captured under the Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practices (LEAP) review
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Gaps in Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) records
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Missing National Insurance credits for people receiving Universal Credit
Some of these cases stretch back to the mid-1980s. In particular, NI credits linked to Child Benefit were not always correctly recorded. This means that many women—especially those who spent years raising families—were left with an inaccurate pension record.
The LEAP process was launched in January 2021 to begin making corrections.
Who has been affected?
A wide range of people have been impacted. The government is issuing back payments automatically in some cases. These include:
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Married women: Those who reached State Pension age before April 2016, and whose husbands turned 65 on or after 17 March 2008, may be entitled to a higher pension if they’re receiving less than 60% of their husband’s basic State Pension.
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Widows: Some were underpaid while their husbands were alive, while others missed out on increases following their husbands’ deaths.
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Women over 80: Anyone in this group receiving less than £80.45 a week may be due a top-up.
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Heirs: Family members of someone who was underpaid and has since passed away may also be entitled to compensation.
Other groups will need to contact the government to trigger a review:
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Women whose husbands turned 65 before 17 March 2008
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Divorced women who could have benefited from their former spouse’s National Insurance record
You can find out more about eligibility here.
What has been paid so far?
According to the DWP’s September 2024 update:
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Married women: 45,907 cases resolved, with £250.6 million repaid—an average of £5,591 each
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Over-80s: £68.2 million returned, averaging £2,202 per person
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Widows: £417.2 million repaid, with an average payout of £11,905
HMRC has also uncovered more than 5,000 additional cases through HRP record checks in 2024 alone. The average amount refunded in these cases was £7,859, according to the Daily Record.
The DWP estimates that HRP-related errors alone could account for between £300 million and £1.5 billion in unpaid pensions.
Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb summed up the situation:
“The process of correcting state pension errors began nearly three years ago but still only around half of the money has been paid so far.
Worse still, when DWP recently decided to do the first proper checks on State Pensions in years, they identified another £1bn in underpayments and work has barely begun on fixing those errors. DWP still has a mountain to climb when it comes to paying all pensioners the amount they are due.”
How to check if you’re owed money
If your case is flagged in the LEAP process, the DWP should write to you directly. But not everyone is picked up automatically, so if you think you’ve been underpaid, it’s worth getting in touch.
You can contact the Pension Service or call 0800 731 0469. Alternatively, you can write to:
The Pension Service
Post Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1AF
Next steps
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