Families could get £1,000s in DWP repayments but must 'act now' (2025)

Families will now have to supply documents themselves to get state pension repayments after the DWP stopped its investigations into underpayments

Bereaved families have been told to 'act now' or risk losing money owed to them in state pension underpayments.

Errors and mistakes by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the past mean families could claim thousands of pounds in state pension money that should have been paid to their relatives.

But families have been urged to act quickly to make sure they don't miss out, with underpayments ranging from a few hundred pounds to more than £100,000 in some cases, the Mirror reports.

In a major update this month, families will now have to provide their own documents to the DWP if they want the money they are owed after the government department decided to end its investigations into underpayments.

Affected families - or individuals who are personally owed state pension repayments - started to receive letters from the benefits department telling them that it had ended the investigation into the underpayments, meaning they would not be paid the money they were owed.

The new update to the scandal comes after it was revealed in 2021 that the DWP used to destroy state pension records four years after the death of a pensioner and their surviving spouse, following an investigation by This is Money.

Without the state pension records, families looking to recoup the losses of the underpayments their relative was owed were unable to.

The DWP paused deleting records in this way in January 2021 until December 31, 2026 after it was discovered that some records - especially those of elderly married women and widows - contained major errors. Around 2,500 families were affected by the deletion of pre-2021 data according to the DWP.

But now, in a major update to the scandal this month, these families started to receive letters from the benefits department telling them that it had ended the investigation into the underpayments.

The DWP did not confirm why it was ending these investigations. This sparked outrage from those who have been impacted, with some describing the situation as "a disgrace" and a "total sham".

However, when pushed by Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesman Steve Darling recently, the DWP confirmed that it could review state pension awards if certain records were supplied. This includes things such as old letters from the department, and bank statements showing pension payment amounts.

Several years ago, the government launched a website so the next of kin of people potentially underpaid state pension could request information after pressure from campaigners and MPs.

Darling said: "It's deeply troubling that families are being told the DWP can't check because records have supposedly been deleted. Bereaved families deserve transparency and a fair chance to ensure their relatives received what they were entitled to."

Darling added that it was "a step forward" and that the DWP says it will now consider applications based on people's own paperwork.

Steve Webb, partner at pension consultant LCP wrote on This is Money: "It is immensely frustrating for people who registered details of a loved one to be kept waiting years for a response, only to be told that records have been deleted."

"For people who have waited for years for a response from the Government, it is pretty shocking to get a letter out of the blue saying that nothing can be done because the records have been destroyed.

"This will almost certainly turn families into private detectives having to dig out any records they can find in order to challenge the DWP if they think underpayments have occurred."

Families affected will need to rummage through old paperwork to find documents they can use to reopen their cases. Next of kin or executors of recently deceased parents may be able to request statements from their bank, building society, or Post Office Card Account.

Steve Webb advised: "If you are tracking down old bank statements for a late relative, it would be most useful to narrow it down to the months just before and after their spouse reached state pension age, or just before and after their spouse died."

To check for a possible underpayment, try to find any of the following figures and compare them with the official state pension rates at the time:

• The amount your mother received before your father retired (if applicable)
• The amount she received after your father retired
• The amount she received after your father passed away
• Whether her pension amount changed when she turned 80 (if applicable)

These can be compared with prevailing state pension rates to identify potential underpayments. A DWP spokesperson said: "We always encourage next of kin and representatives of deceased customers to contact us if they have relevant proof such as historical letters from the department so we may be able to review the customer's state pension award."

The spokesperson added that the department continues to work through outstanding cases, with 857,050 cases reviewed as of September 2024.