HOUSEHOLDS could be losing out on thousands of pounds of cash because of state pension records being deleted.
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb has raised concerns that some records are being deleted, making it “virtually impossible” to correct past errors in state pension payments.
Families may be unable to get back pension cash they’re owed if records are deleted[/caption]
Some pensioners have ended up underpaid due to errors with their state pension payouts – and in many cases it’s women that have been affected.
In some cases, the people affected died before the errors could be put right.
Errors can potentially be fixed after someone has died, with the money due going to their families.
Pension records are normally deleted four years after someone dies.
Once they’ve been deleted, it would be extremely difficult for families to get the money back if an error had been made.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) put a temporary pause on the deletions in 2021 as part of a major correction exercise on underpaid pensions to married women, widows and the over-80s.
But Sir Steve has now warned there is a risk that records all the way back to 2017 could eventually be wiped, making it harder for families to receive justice.
In a written Freedom of Information request to the DWP, he asked what would happen to these pension records.
The FOI reply said: “Application of the standard retention policy remains paused.
“Once the embargo is lifted, then we will look at deletion of records that are no longer required and re-apply the retention policy.”
Sir Steve warned this decision could lead to as many as two million records being wiped – along with the chance for families to claim back pension cash they could be entitled to.
The deletion would affect data for people over state pension age who died between 2017 and 2020.
Their records have been kept hold of for now because of the temporary pause, but because they’re more than four years old they’ll be automatically wiped if the pause ends.
Sir Steve, who is now a partner at consultants LCP, said some of the people affected would include women who had missed out on “home responsibilities protection” (HRP).
The scheme was set up to protect parents’ and carers’ state pension when they took time out of work to look after their children.
But around 194,000 were left underpaid due to a DWP error.
Previously released figures suggest out of this number, 43,000 people died never having benefited from the protection.
Those who had died were underpaid an estimated £127million.
Sir Steve has now written to the permanent secretary at the DWP, Sir Peter Schofield, asking him to make sure the records are kept for as long as needed to clear up any outstanding errors.
The DWP has said its position on data deletion is kept under review and no decision has been made to revert to business as usual process.
A DWP spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring pensioners get the financial support they deserve and have so far reviewed over 900,000 customer records, with awards totalling over £900million in arrears made.
“Where errors do occur we are committed to resolving them, which is why we have paused deleting state pension records.”
Who is impacted?
It’s worth checking if you think your loved one may have been underpaid the state pension.
They may have been underpaid if:
- They were married or widowed when they died
- They were aged 80 or over when they died
This is because they did not get the automatic increase in their pension that they were entitled to.
If they reached state pension age before April 6, 2016
If they were married, they may have been underpaid if they got less than the lower basic state pension and they did not get an increase through their spouse.
Those who were widowed may have been underpaid if they didn’t inherit some of their spouse’s state pension.
Pensioners aged 80 or over may have been underpaid if they were getting some basic state pension but got less than the amount of the over-80 pension.
If they reached state pension age after April 6, 2016
If they were widowed, they may have been underpaid if they didn’t inherit the state pension they were entitled to from a spouse or civil partner.
What can you do?
The DWP has said it has written to the next of kin of those who may have been affected.
The letters were sent out between January 11, 2021 and December 31, 2024.
If you haven’t been contacted and you’re either the next of kin or executor, you can get in touch with the DWP.
You’ll need to provide this information about the person who has died:
- their full name
- their date of birth
- their date of death
- their last known address, including their postcode
- the full name of their husband, wife or civil partner, if they were married or in a civil partnership
You may also need to provide their National Insurance number.
You can contact the DWP by phone on 0800 731 0469.
To check state pension rates for each year, you can see them on the government website here.
