DWP under fire for failing to fix state pensions for 200,000 mothers | Personal Finance | Finance [Video]

Rachel Reeves says ‘we will turn our attention to pensions’

The Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) is under fire for failing to fix errors in pension payments for almost 200,000 mothers.

A problem of underpayments has been identified in the State Pension of women who gave up work for several years to care for their children when they were younger.

These women should have been given National Insurance credits for these years in order to ensure they qualified for the full State Pension. However, an admin error meant this did not happen for approaching 200,000 women with the result they have been underpaid.

So far, just 419 cases have been reviewed and settled. As a result, just £2.2m in arrears has been paid out compared with an estimated final bill of £1.15 billion.

It has emerged that as many as 43,000 of the women who lost out due to the error have died without any recompense.

HRP was designed to protect …