State pension mistakes: how to check your payments are correct

Older women could be owed thousands in state pension payments due to government errors.

There are "several different groups" of older women who may have been underpaid their state pension for "various reasons", due to errors in national insurance records, said Unbiased.

But the government has been accused of "abandoning" more than 100,000 pensioners, said The Times, due to "widespread system errors".

What are the latest developments?

Computer errors meant parents who gave up work to look after children but claimed child benefit between 1978 and 2010 missed out on a scheme known as Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP), which would have boosted their state pension entitlement.

HRP was designed to make sure parents and carers did not miss out on pension rights while they were occupied at home.

These cases arose after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was checking samples for a "previous set of large-scale errors", said IFA Magazine.

In 2023, the government began writing to 370,000 pensioners who may be owed money and directed them to an online checker, but "substantial numbers" have not responded, the latest DWP annual report shows.

HMRC has corrected records of 12,379 state pension underpayments totalling around £104 million and the DWP expects to spend only a further £29.8 million.

This is "well short" of the estimates of £1 billion thought to be owed, said former pensions minister Steve Webb, now a partner at consultancy LCP.

State pension fact file

The state pension is a regular payment paid by the government to older people.

You are eligible once you reach state pension age, currently 66, and you usually need at least 10 years of National Insurance (NI) contributions to receive a minimum rate, and 35 years to get the maximum.

It increases each year based on a controversial calculation called the triple lock. The new full state pension is currently worth £230.25 a week.

Why you should check your state pension

The HRP errors are "just one group of many", said MoneyWeek, with others affected by "admin errors" that affect married women, widows and the over 80s at a combined value of £594 million.

Married, divorced or widowed women who reached state pension age before April 2016 should have automatically received up to 60% of their husband's basic state pension entitlement since 2008. However, they "could be missing out" due to errors, said Unbiased.

The DWP estimates that around 237,000 people are affected and the government department is checking records and making contact with them.

It means some married women, widows and those aged over 80 should get payments "without having to take any action", said Lane, Clark & Peacock (LCP), which helped uncover the issue. Others though, such as married women whose husbands turned 65 before 17 March 2008 and women who divorced after pension age, will need "to contact the department" or check with the Pension Service.

Some people may have died and their families will be "entitled to check their eligibility" and make a claim for any arrears, added the financial website.

LCP has a tool to check whether you are being underpaid.

How to check your state pension and fill the gaps 

If you want to spot errors and see what you are entitled to, the "easiest thing to do", said MoneySavingExpert, is to check your state pension forecast.

It will tell you how many qualifying National Insurance years you've already built up, and how many more you need to get the highest state pension available.

There could be gaps for a "range of reasons", said The Telegraph, such as earning a low income where you're not required to pay NI, being self-employed and not making adequate contributions.

In certain circumstances, these gaps can be filled by making voluntary National Insurance contributions. However, individuals are only able to pay these NI contributions for the past six years. The government offers free guidance via its website to help people decide whether this course of action is appropriate for them.