Speak to a specialist solicitor at our law firm in North Yorkshire.
New DWP website for next of kin to use re state pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has recently announced a new, user-friendly website to allow next of kin to claim underpaid state pensions owed to those who have passed away. It follows criticism of the lack of information and guidance given to people who believed their deceased family members were underpaid.
Sharon Richardson, Head of Private Client Team and member of Solicitors for the Elderly said “As a solicitor specialising in supporting older and vulnerable clients, I want to let people know about a new website launched by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which allows next of kin to make claims for underpaid state pensions”.
It’s estimated that around 134,000 people had been underpaid and are owed around £1bn. By the time the issue had been discovered, many of these people had died.
Until now there has been no easy way for those who believe their deceased family member was underpaid to make sure DWP had their contact details and knew who to pay, in the event of an error being found.
After pressure from campaigners, DWP has produced a user-friendly website to be used by the next of kin of those who believe that a deceased family member was underpaid state pension.
This comes too late to benefit the person who was underpaid but at least their family will receive some compensation for the error.
For specialist legal advice for elder clients, contact any of our SFE members:
Sharon Richardson and Belinda-Jane Poulter at York on 01904 624185 or
Bethany Worthy at Pickering (covering the Ryedale areas) on 01751 472121.
