The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had repaid £571.6m to individuals impacted by historical state pension underpayments as of 29 February 2024, having identified 97,016 underpayments.

The problems affected married women whose husbands reached pensionable age before 2008, as well as widows and those over 80, who were unknowingly entitled to an 'enhanced pension' that would have boosted their payments by up to 60 per cent.

The latest update on the issue revealed that DWP had reviewed 705,688 cases between 11 January 2021 and 29 February 2024, identifying a total of 97,016 underpayments.

In particular, a total of £243.8m had been repaid to the 43,367 cases involving married women, with an average arrears amount of £5,713, while a total of £262.3m had been paid in relation to the 21,175 widowed cases, with an average £12,486 payment.

In addition to this, £65.5m was repaid in relation to 32,474 cases involving over 80s, with an average payment of £2,192.

However, Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey, noted that while progress is being made to rectify the large-scale issue of state pension underpayments, "it is very slow".

"Just over £571m has been returned so far but with estimates suggesting the scale of underpayments could be around £1.5bn there’s still a very long way to go," she continued.

"People have the expectation that the state pension they receive is correct but a series of errors in an already overly complicated system means that for many thousands of people this expectation has been incorrect.

"Some who queried the issue with DWP over the years were told there was no problem, and many have suffered real financial hardship as a result. These people have been let down and need resolution as soon as possible.”

---