The department has paid out just £2.2m of an estimated £1.1bn redress bill, despite many affected being elderly.
Data from the DWP, released this week, showed that these people – mostly mothers – were missing Home Responsibilities Protection on their National Insurance record.
This is designed to protect the pension record of those unable to work and pay National Insurance because of bringing up children.
The DWP has so far addressed just 419 cases out of an estimated 194,000 affected people, paying out £2.2m of an estimated £1.1bn total redress bill.
The department also estimated that as many as 43,000 of those affected may have died without redress being paid.
Steve Webb, partner at LCP and a former pensions minister, said the government was not prioritising addressing these errors.
“Once the government realised that nearly 200,000 mothers may have been underpaid their state pension, action should have been taken to fix the problem with much greater urgency, especially as many of those who have lost out are now elderly,” he said.
“Instead, DWP has so far assessed fewer than 500 cases out of that total, and the exercise is proceeding at a snail’s pace. When the government talks about continuing the exercise into 2027-28 it is clear that this issue is not getting the priority that it deserves.”
The DWP discovered the error after it had uncovered a previous state pension issue affecting over 100,000 people, many of whom were aged over 80.
The department has said it is working on the problem, but it is likely to take until the 2027-28 financial year to address all those affected.
According to the DWP’s annual report and accounts, published on Monday, the error has arisen because many child benefit claim forms submitted before 2000 did not include a National Insurance number. This means that the relevant Home Responsibilities Protection was not carried across from the child benefit system to the National Insurance system.
Adding to the problem, HM Revenue & Customs has destroyed old child benefit records, according to LCP, meaning it has to write to all women potentially affected to encourage them to make a claim.
