HUNDREDS of thousands of women are still missing out on thousands of pounds in state pension payments.
Some women who paid the married woman’s stamp, or missed out on contributing years, could be entitled to a payment boost of up to 60%.
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The underpayment affects hundreds of thousands of women whose husbands reached state pension age before March 17, 2008.
This is because they may not have realised that when their husband retired at 65, they had to make a second claim in order to get the uplift.
For men who retired after March 17 2008, this happened automatically with no reason for the wife to put this into action.
But for men who retired before that date, who will now be over 80 years old, their partner would have needed to put in a separate claim.
Pensions expert Steve Webb said the affected women are likely to be getting smaller payments of around £65 per week.
But they could be entitled to an additional £20, taking them to the standard state pension amount of £85.
This means women could be missing out on £1,000 over the course of a year.
Steve Webb said: “It is shocking that the government knows that hundreds of thousands of older married women could be on a higher pension but has done nothing to make them aware in the fifteen years or more since their husband retired.
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“I would encourage any married woman with a husband over 80 and who has a basic pension under £85 per week to check if she may be entitled to a higher pension.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “Our priority is ensuring pensioners receive the financial support to which they are entitled and the action we are taking now will correct historical underpayments made by successive governments.
“As upheld by a court last year, married women whose husbands reached state pension age after them, but before March 17 2008, are required by law to make a claim for an uplift to their State Pension.”
Are you being underpaid?
The full married woman’s rate this year is £85.
If your husband is on a full basic pension of £141.85, then you should be getting £85 in basic pension, Mr Webb said.
He added: “So if you are not, you need to claim the uplift.”
You can check if you are affected by using this handy tool on the LCP website.
How to seek a review
If you think might have been underpaid call The Pension Service (0800 731 7898) and ask for your state pension calculation to be reviewed.
If after this you are not satisfied that your payments are correct you can ask for a “mandatory reconsideration”, after which you will be told how to launch an appeal if you believe the calculations are still wrong.
If you are divorced and want to make sure that you are getting the right amount of state pension, you can find out more by reading this MoneyHelper guide.
Information on the rules for widows can be found on the government website.
It comes as tens of thousands of pensioners have received a total of £300million after being previously underpaid.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
