women, widows and the over 80s. they are collectively owed more than £1 billion. the national audit office found there were repeated human errors over many years at the department for work and pensions, blamed on complex pension rules and unautomated outdated it systems. most of the people affected were women, not all but most. 90% of those that take this type of state pension lift are women, and unfortunately i m afraid that many of them will have died before they receive the money they are owed, so actually, in a significant minority of cases, this money will go to their next of kin. the department for work and pensions said it is fully committed to ensuring the historical errors made by successive governments are corrected, and it s improved training to make sure it doesn t happen again. a team of 500 civil servants is now working to trace women like irene who were short changed,
there were repeated human errors over many years at the department for work and pensions, blamed on complex pension rules and unautomated, outdated it systems. most of the people affected are going to be women, not all, but most 90% of those that take this type of state pension uplifts are women. and unfortunately, i m afraid, many of them will have died before they received the money that they are owed. so actually, in a significant minority of cases, this is money that will actually go to their next of kin. the department for work and pensions said it is fully committed to ensuring the historical errors made by successive governments are corrected, and it s improved training to make sure it doesn t happen again. a team of 500 civil servants is now working to trace women like irene who were short changed. but it will take years to complete. sarah corker, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news.
she is one of thousands of women in their 70s and 80s who missed out on large sums of money because of government errors. i think it s scandalous. i think that the fact that you have to battle for something that s rightfully yours is awful, because i was lucky, i ve got richard to help me, but anybody who s a widow, and perhaps not financially up with it, and they re perhaps struggling on the breadline, it could make a tremendous difference. irene has now been paid the £7000 she was owed, but it was a battle, and she is far from alone. these errors relate to married women who had small state pensions. they were eligible to claim 60% of their husbands contributions, but complex rules and errors by the dwp meant that for decades they were underpaid. the errors date back to 1985, affecting an estimated 134,000 pensioners, including some married women, widows and the over 80s. they are collectively owed more than £1 billion. the national audit office found there were repeated human error
the £7,000 she was owed, but it was a battle and she s far from alone. these errors relate to married women who had small state pensions. they were eligible to claim 60% of their husbands contributions. but complex rules and errors by the dwp meant that for decades, they were underpaid. the errors date back to 1985, affecting an estimated 134,000 pensioners, including some married women, widows and the over 80s. they are collectively owed more than £1 billion. the national audit office found there were repeated human errors over many years at the department for work and pensions, blamed on complex pension rules and unautomated, outdated it systems. most of the people affected are going to be women, not all, but most 90% of those that take this type of state pension uplifts are women. and unfortunately, i m afraid,
but it was a battle, and she is far from alone. these errors relate to married women who had small state pensions. they were eligible to claim 60% of their husbands contributions, but complex rules and errors by the dwp meant that for decades they were underpaid. the errors date back to 1985, affecting an estimated 134,000 pensioners, including some married women, widows and the over 80s. they are collectively owed more than £1 billion. the national audit office found there were repeated human errors over many years at the department for work and pensions, blamed on complex pension rules and unautomated outdated it systems. most of the people affected were women, not all but most. 90% of those that take this type of state pension lift are women, and unfortunately i m afraid that many of them will have died before they receive the money they are owed,