Tens of thousands of divorced women may be in line for state pension payouts, as experts say 134,000 are owed a pot of £1billion.
The government has been looking into the issue of underpaid state pensioners , mostly women, after a campaign by former pensions minister Steve Webb.
But now Webb says the government's sums need to include thousands of extra divorced women.
At first, 200,000 women were underpaid state pensions by around £3billion.
That number was then hiked to include 130,000 married women, widows and the over-80s.
But Webb says the government's reckoning does not include huge numbers of divorced women, who are likely to have been underpaid too.
Webb said he has already seen examples of divorced women getting five-figure payouts from the government.
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One, Mrs H, was told she wasn't entitled to a state pension when she retired as a divorcee.
But when she challenged this she was told she should have been getting payments of £140 a week, and got a massive payout of £60,000 by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Webb said: "Given the large-scale errors on state pensions for widows, married women and the over 80s, it seems implausible that DWP has an unblemished record when it comes to the pensions of divorced women.
“A series of individual cases has highlighted blunders which have led to divorced women being underpaid by tens of thousands of pounds, in some cases for a decade or more.
“The DWP has dismissed concerns around this group far too lightly and should take another look to assess the scale of the problem and then take action to put things right”.
How to check if you are owed state pension payments
To check if you’ve been underpaid, you can use this online tool created by Webb's firm, Lane Clark & Peacock: lcp.uk.com .
Webb said the following groups of divorced women were most likely to be owed state pension:
- Those who divorced after pension age, told the government but didn't get more pension
- Women who divorced when they retired but are on small pensions
- Those who divorced close to retirement, so most of their state pension came from their spouse's National Insurance payments
Last week The Mirror reported that Pension Credit will go up next year , meaning couples will be able to get up to £278.70 a week if they qualify - but around 1million already don't claim the benefit.
Pension Credit is a benefit that tops up the incomes of retirees and helps them have a decent standard of living.
The amount you get varies depending on factors whether you have a partner, are disabled or care for young children.
The most you can currently get is £177.10 a week if you are single or £270.30 for couples.
But from next April that will go up to £182.60 and £278.70.
A DWP spokesperson said: "We encourage people to contact us if they get divorced or their civil partnership is dissolved and every year we remind people about doing so alongside the uprating notifications we send out.
"We want everyone to claim the benefits to which they may be entitled and we urge anyone of state pension age – or their family and friends – to check if they are missing out on financial support.
"We apologise for the errors in the cases identified and have corrected our records and paid the arrears owed."
