The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has rejected MPs calls to extend its state pension underpayment review to include divorcees.

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) previously wrote to the DWP to raise concerns about the impact of state pension underpayments on divorcees, and whether the rules in place to help savers are working effectively.

However, the DWP's response revealed that while the department has reviewed the decision not to include divorcees in light of MPs concerns, they found little evidence that an extension was needed.

DWP permanent secretary, Peter Schofield, said: "Evidence gathered at the start of this LEAP exercise did not raise concerns that there was widespread error due to action not being taken on notifications of divorce.

"This was reviewed by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) who were satisfied that the department had taken appropriate steps to consider the risk of underpayments to
divorced people.

"However, I would like to assure the committee that the department is not complacent and in light of the committee’s concerns I have looked again at the issue. DWP’s published Fraud and Error statistics have included, for the past two years, a sample of state pension recipients.

"These state pension recipients are interviewed in depth to ensure they receive their correct benefit entitlement. This sample has not shown any widespread error for divorcees - indeed the overall state pension official error underpayment rate was 0.5 per cent in FYE 2023."

Schofield also confirmed that the DWP has also looked at those cases where state pension recipients have contacted them, asking us to review their pension, clarifying that while the DWP had expected a higher error rate in these cases, there is not "sufficient evidence" to suggest there is a widespread issue relating to divorce (or any other issue).

"In the majority of cases where there was an error relating to divorce, it was due to the claimant had not notified us of the change to marital status," he continued.

"The department’s internal checking regime has also not uncovered any underlying evidence to suggest there is a potential issue with divorce cases."

More broadly, Schofield also emphasised the DWPs commitment to addressing state pension underpayments, stating: "I would like to assure the committee that we remain committed to identifying and fixing any errors as quickly as possible to ensure that everyone receives their correct level of state pension entitlement."

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