Victory for victims of £1billion pension injustice

A watchdog’s landmark decision may help to claw back cash for hundreds of thousands of married pensioners.

Women aged over 75 who were entitled to pensions based on 60 percent of their husband’s contributions have each lost thousands of pounds. Sir Steve Webb, a partner at financial consultants LCP, said a successful challenge against the Government has raised hopes that other pensioners will now receive what they are owed.

He said: “After years of working with married women to challenge these antiquated state pension rules, we finally have a glimmer of hope.”

Sir Steve added: “The old processes for alerting women to the need to claim their state pension twice were hopelessly inadequate.”

Since 2008, the uplift from a woman’s state pension to the 60 percent rate of their husband’s award has taken place automatically when he retired.

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Before that, married women had to fill in a pension form to claim the increase. But many were not aware of the requirement – and missed out.

Although booklets that were available at the time explained the need to make a claim, the information was not sent automatically to women and it had to be requested.

When the husband stopped work, he could tick a box if his wife was on a low pension and a form would be sent directly to him.

A decision by the Independent Case Examiner, a watchdog which deals with complaints against the Department for Work and Pensions, has upheld a case of maladministration over the issue.

Although it relates to only one case, it has raised hopes that other women will be able to follow the same route to access compensation.

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It currently has two cases to consider – and two more are to be submitted shortly. Sir Steve added: “We’ve had it suggested that women should have gone to the Jobcentre to get an information booklet, or have been told that they had to rely on their husbands ticking a box on a form.

“The scale of the problem shows that there was a systematic issue, and it seems to me highly likely that many women…were never sent the claim form that they needed.

“I hope that this landmark case will lead to many thousands more women getting justice.” Older married, divorced or widowed women on low state pensions are entitled to payments at 60 percent of the full rate of their husband’s National Insurance payments.

The payments were made automatically from March 2008 but a separate claim had to be made for women affected before that date.

But many women simply assumed that once they claimed their state pension they would be paid whatever amount they were due.

Those who did find out years later that they could have been on a higher rate were able to backdate any rise for only 12 months.

Campaigners have claimed that the DWP’s measures to ensure that women were aware of how the system was meant to work were often highly ineffective in practice.

Daphne and Tim Bennett, both 80, of Surrey, ­successfully took their case to ICE and their full uplift will now be paid all the way back to 2008, plus interest and compensation.

Mrs Bennett said: “I hope that those in positions of authority will look at what happened to me and accept that there are many other women in the same ­position and will put things right for all of them.”

Most of the women who are affected by the issue have been ­underpaid since at least 2008. While the ­figures will vary for individual claimants, some experts believe that around £1,000 a year is a reasonable assumption for the underpayments involved.

The DWP – headed by Secretary of State Mel Stride – has not given exact figures for how many women lost out but admits that it will be in the “low hundreds of thousands”.

Campaign group Silver Voices last night called on the pensions department to end the injustice that has been faced by older women.

Dennis Reed, director of the body that supports older people, said: “This case is very encouraging. “There is a long line of DWP errors and maladministration as far as state pensions are concerned and this is a particularly egregious one.”

He continued: “The Parliamentary Ombudsman should urgently get a grip of this because we are talking about the older generation and we can’t be waiting years for this injustice to be resolved.

“A lot of people don’t know their rights, and pensions are extremely technical and complex.”

Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, commented: “It is very concerning that many women were underpaid their state pension for many years due to administrative errors and that some may still be missing out.”

She added: “We would welcome any moves to identify those who have been underpaid and ensure they receive their rightful pension, especially with the continuing pressure to meet high bills.”

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “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.

“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.”

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