State pension: Widower, 81, discovers wife was underpaid by £4,152 | Personal Finance | Finance

Sir Steve Webb, partner at LCP, said: “There is no doubt in my mind that many thousands of mothers have been underpaid state pensions, including some who are now no longer with us.  

“The errors arise from a failure to correctly reflect the protection which is built into the system for time spent bringing up children.  

“Yet again, a state pension error has been unearthed which disproportionately affects women.  

“Whilst it is satisfying to be able to help individuals get their pension records corrected, what is really needed is concerted Government action to fix this problem. 

“But so far we have had ‘radio silence’ from the Government. DWP and HMRC have clearly known for many months that there is a problem and it is now time for them to tell us how many people are affected and, more importantly, how they plan to put things right.”