Thousands still waiting for their state pensions despite assurances backlog would be cleared
Backlog misery: Nearly 5,000 retirees are still waiting for their state pension
Nearly 5,000 retirees are still waiting for their state pension despite assurances that a claim backlog would be cleared by now.
In September, Money Mail reported how those reaching state pension age were being made to wait up to three months for their first payments.
It came amid a staffing crisis at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), but Pensions Minister Guy Opperman told Parliament the logjam would be cleared by the end of October.
Yet yesterday, close to 400 overdue claims had still not been paid, and the department was in touch with 4,900 retirees who needed to provide more information.
The DWP did not reveal the full scale of the delays disaster, but it is feared tens of thousands of new retirees were forced to wait weeks longer — including many women who had already been made to wait an extra six years after the state pension age was hiked from 60 to 66.
The DWP says any claim made today will be paid on time. A spokesman says: ‘We have now made the vast majority of outstanding payments, with a small number left where we are in contact with the customer for more information.’