A State Pension can be the main source of income for many older people and getting all the money you’re entitled to can make a significant dfference.
New research has found that potentially "tens of thousands of women" may be entitled to compensation and a higher rate of State Pension than they are currently receiving.
The findings from pension consultants Lane Clark and Peacock suggests that the issue affects women covered by the ‘old’ State Pension system.
This means women who reached state pension age before April 6, 2016.
Under this system, married women could claim an enhanced rate of State Pension when their husband reached the age of 65 - in cases where they only had a small State Pension entitlement in their own right, reports Mirror.co.uk.
The same rules applied to widows and divorced women.
At current rates, the pension that a married woman can claim based on her husband's record of National Insurance (NI) contributions stands at £80.45 per week, provided that their husband was receiving a full basic State Pension.
This amounts to 60 per cent of the full basic State Pension rate of £134.25.
State Pension is usually paid every four weeks, which means women could have been missing out on up to £321.80 per month.
Married women on low pensions should have been awarded this 60 per cent rate automatically when their husband turned 65 - since March 2008.
However, before that date, they needed to put in a claim to receive it as the uplift was not automatically added.
Data obtained in a Freedom of Information request submitted earlier this year by Lane Clark and Peacock partner Sir Steve Webb to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggests that thousands of married women who would be eligible for this rate are not receiving it.
Sir Steve, a former Minister of State for Pensions, said that in the majority of cases it seems likely that this is because they have not actively claimed the uplift.
However, the pensions commentator said that in some cases it "will reflect the failure of DWP computers to automatically award the uplift".
It's understood that in situations where women need to make a claim, they can only backdate it for 12 months – meaning any uplift for the years prior to this has been lost.
In addition to gaps for married women, the research paper identifies other groups who may be missing out.
These include:
Thousands of widows who appear to be on very low State Pensions, well short of the expected rate for a widow claiming on her late husband’s record
Thousands of divorced women who should, in principle, be benefiting from the ability to ‘substitute’ the NI record of their ex-husband for the period up to the end of their marriage
Thousands of women aged 80 or over who should in principle be entitled to an £80.45 pension on a non-contributory basis provided that they satisfy a simple residency test
Lane Clark and Peacock estimates that tens of thousands of women are being paid less in State pension than they're entitled to.
If you think you might be owed money, you should contact the Pension Service here - remember, you can backdate your claim for up to 12 months.
To see how much you could be entitled to, Lane Clark and Peacock have launched an online calculator here.
