The DWP has issued an update on its work to send out state pension back payments with the average person owed almost £12,000.
The department is sending out payments to those who have missed out on payments due to the Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice (LEAP) issue, the Record reported.
Payments have gone out to all those in the married women and people in a civil partnership (category BL) group and those over 80 (category D).
Officials have said that “progress remains on track for the ‘widowed’ cases to be completed by the end of 2024”.
The DWP has identified some 119,050 pensioners who had been underpaid with average back payments of £11,905.
These are the three categories of people who are affected by the LEAP issue:
- Category BL (Cat BL) – People who are married or in a civil partnership who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016 and who should be entitled to a Category BL uplift based on their partner’s National Insurance contributions.
- Missed conversions – People who have been widowed and their state pension was not increased to include any amounts they are entitled to inherit from their late husband, wife or civil partner.
- Category D (Cat D) – People who reach age 80 and who are getting some basic state pension but less than the £85.00 (in 2022-23) and may therefore, subject to satisfying the appropriate residency conditions, be entitled to Cat D state pension of £101.55 a week (2024/25 weekly rate).
Below are the figures for the number of cases reviewed, arrears identified and payments made between January 2021 and September 2024.
Married (Cat BL)
- Cases reviewed: 321,142
- Underpayments identified: 45,907
- Average arrears payment: £5,591
- Total amount repaid: £250.6million.
Widowed (Cat B)
- Cases reviewed: 445,188
- Underpayments identified: 39,706
- Average arrears payment: £11,905
- Total amount repaid: £417.2million.
Over 80 (Cat D)
- Cases reviewed: 90,720
- Underpayments identified: 33,437
- Average arrears payment: £2,202
- Total amount repaid: £68.2million.
