DWP state pension underpayments: How to claim arrears when a person has died | Personal Finance | Finance

Relatives of state pensioners who have died but who are owed payments by the DWP can still claim their loved ones’ funds.

The DWP has identified thousands of people who were underpaid their state pension because of errors in the system – and sadly some of these people have now died.

This may apply to a person who was married or widowed when they died or a person who was aged 80 or over when they died.

DWP officials have looked at 600,000 state pension awards in its operation between January 11, 2021 and October 31, 2023.

Average payouts due range between £2,245 and £12,383. The issue mostly affects women, including married women, those in a civil partnership, widows and those over 80.

How can I claim state pension underpayments for a person who has died?

Those who are the next of kin or the executor of an estate where a person may have missed out on state pension payments, are urged to reach out to the DWP for more information. This can be done using this form on the Government website.

The relative or executor will need to know these details about the deceased:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Date of death
• Last known address, including their postcode
• Full name of their husband, wife or civil partner, if they were married or in a civil partnership.

Providing their National Insurance number will also mean the process can happen more quickly.

The DWP will then check if the person who has died received the correct state pension amount. The DWP may need to contact the relative to find out more details.

The DWP will then write a letter to inform the relative if the person was owed money and if they were, to explain the process for what happens next.

We will check whether the person who has died was paid the correct amount of State Pension. We may need to contact you for more information, for example if we have not kept the records, in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Are you affected by a state pension underpayment?

There are three broad categories of state pension underpayments:

• Cases covered by the ongoing state pension underpayments (Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice exercise
• Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) cases where HRP has not been recorded accurately on National Insurance records
• Cases where National Insurance credits need to be updated for people who were claiming Universal Credit.

Peter Schofield, permanent secretary at the DWP, recently told a parliamentary committee that the first two stages of the state pension LEAP (Legal Entitlement and Administrative Practice) exercise involving married women, or those in a civil partnership (category BL) and those over 80 (category D), were “largely complete at the end of December”.

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