24-07-2025
Full list of DWP benefit errors that can lead to refunds worth £1,000s – including PIP and state pension
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HOUSEHOLDS should stay alert to benefit errors that could result in refunds worth thousands of pounds.
If the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) underpays you, you may be entitled to claim back the money you are owed.
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We share what benefit errors could lead you tor receive money back
Credit: EPA
On the other hand, if you are overpaid on a benefit, you will be required to repay the money, and failing to do so could lead to legal action.
This applies even if you were unaware of the overpayment and have already spent the funds.
However, claimants may be eligible for back payments on several benefits, including the state pension and personal independence payments (PIP).
Below, we outline who has been affected and how this might apply to you.
State pension error
If you took time away from paid work to look after a child or someone with an illness, you could be owed money back.
The issue mainly impacts those carrying out caring duties between 1978 and 2010.
During this time, the government had a system in place to ensure people would still be paid the state pension if they took time out for these reasons.
This system was called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and it should have been automatically awarded to those claiming Child Benefit.
But an error in the system found that hundreds of thousands of people were left with gaps in their National Insurance records that should not be there.
Those impacted have been underpaid on their state pension or could be in the future.
But the government has said that all issues related to the error should be resolved by March 2027.
Disability benefit explained - what you can claim
How to claim
You might have received a letter if you are thought to be affected.
People can check their eligibility for backdated HRP and make a claim via
HMRC said the process takes around 15 minutes.
According to MoneySavingExpert, the average amount being paid out is more than £7,000.
What are state pension errors?
STEVE Webb, partner at LCP and former Pensions Minister, explains what state pension errors are and how they can occur:
The way state pensions are worked out is so complicated that many thousands of people have been paid the wrong amount for years without even realising it.
The amount of retirement pension you get usually depends on your National Insurance (NI) record.
One big source of errors has been cases where NI records have been incorrect, particularly for years spent at home with children.
This is a system known as 'Home Responsibilities Protection'.
Alternatively, particularly for older pensioners, the amount you get can depend on the NI contributions made by your spouse.
Errors have arisen where the Government has failed to adjust the pensions of married women when their husbands retired or failed to increase pensions when someone was bereaved and lost a husband or wife.
Although the Government has spent years trying to fix these problems, there are still many thousands of people – many of them older women – on the wrong pension.
If you have always thought that your pension seems low, then it is worth contacting the Pensions Service to ask them to check, especially if you spent time at home raising children or if you were widowed and your pension didn't change when your spouse died
PIP
Benefit claimants could be owed cash from the government after a PIP payment error.
A review was launched following a Supreme Court judgment in July 2019 that changed the way the DWP defines 'social support' in one of the assessed PIP categories.
Dubbed the "MM judgement", the DWP realised that hundreds of thousands could now be due additional support.
It means that people may not have been given one of the two elements of PIP when they were actually entitled to it.
Others may have been awarded the standard rate but should have received the enhanced rate, which is a higher amount.
It occurred after some people were given one of the two elements of PIP when they were actually entitled to it.
The DWP launched a review in 2021, looking at cases since 2016.
How to claim
An estimated 633,338 households are thought to be have been affected by the error.
The average payout works out at around £5,285 per claim, but you could get more or less.
One couple told The Sun they were left shell-shocked" after learning that they were due £12,000 in back payments.
The DWP tends to get in contact directly with claimants thought to be impacted.
New PIP error
The DWP has flagged two more errors relating to the benefits claim.
That includes PIP claimants without a National Insurance number not having their claims processed correctly, even though it is not needed to make a claim.
Up to £500,000 has been paid out to those impacted.
Elsewhere, The DWP has also paid out £13million to Scottish PIP claimants who mistakenly saw a "loss of entitlement" when they tried moving over to the Adult Disability Payment (ADP).
