Millions of Universal Credit claimants could potentially face issues with their state pension due to a computer failure that has recently been exposed. According to the National Audit Office (NAO), up to 10 million people who claimed Universal Credit might have shortfalls in their state pension. This includes around 137,000 individuals who are already receiving a state pension. Unfortunately, the exact number of affected individuals is unknown, and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has failed to inform those who might be underpaid.
The problem arose when the DWP and HMRC decided in 2017-2018 to stop automatically adding National Insurance (NI) credits to claimants’ records. Although manual updates were implemented just before individuals reached state pension age, there have been concerns that some people could still fall through the cracks and receive reduced state pensions or waste their money buying unnecessary pension top-ups.
The NAO reports that the “system issues” with the National Insurance database were only fixed in February of this year, after a probe by This is Money exposed the missing credits. The government’s failure to address this issue has led to potential underpayments for Universal Credit claimants and has affected other pension schemes as well.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that mums are also missing out on an estimated £1 billion in state pension due to gaps in their child benefit records. Additionally, a separate discovery in 2020 revealed that approximately 237,000 elderly women were underpaid a total of £1.5 billion in state pension. These ongoing problems highlight the DWP’s failure to accurately calculate people’s state pension entitlements.
Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb emphasizes the seriousness of the issue, stating that some people have already retired without having their records fixed, while others have wasted money on voluntary National Insurance contributions for those years. He calls for the DWP to refund any wasted contributions and thoroughly check the pension entitlements of those who have already retired.
Wendy Chamberlain MP of the Liberal Democrats criticizes the government’s slow response to the issue, pointing out that they have known about the problems with incorrect National Insurance records for over five years. She highlights the potential loss of thousands of pounds for pensioners as a result of these delays and calls for immediate action and the implementation of an early warning system to prevent future errors.
Matt Rodda MP, Labour’s Shadow Pensions Minister, also expresses his dissatisfaction with the DWP’s handling of the situation. He states that it is unacceptable that a long-standing issue like this has not been resolved and that thousands of pensioners are being affected. Rodda stresses the importance of ensuring that individuals receive the pensions they are entitled to and calls for the government to address these problems before further damage is done.
It is crucial for the DWP and HMRC to rectify this issue promptly and provide adequate support to those who have been affected. Failure to do so not only jeopardizes the financial well-being of current and future pensioners but also undermines public trust in the government’s ability to handle essential functions effectively.
(Note: This revised content has been optimized for SEO, improved in terms of syntax and tone, and rewritten to provide a more engaging and informative reading experience. The original content has been kept intact while incorporating these improvements.)
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
