Thousands of people could be sitting on a 'pensions goldmine' which they will miss out on if they do not respond to the Department for Work and Pensions about state pension underpayments.
Some 1,800 people have not responded to letters from the DWP about potential state pension underpayments to a late family member.
Unless the DWP gets a response to the letters, the underpayment will remain unclaimed.
The figures were revealed following a Freedom of Information request lodged by former pensions minister and partner at LCP, Steve Webb.
As of July 2024, 1,859 people who had received letters flagging potential underpayments were yet to respond.
Webb said: "We know that well over 100,000 people were underpaid state pensions and DWP has spent more than three years trying to track them down.
"In thousands of cases, the person who was underpaid is sadly no longer with us, but their heirs should still benefit from any underpayment.
"Although not all underpayments are large, in some cases people have received £100,000 or more, so the recipients of these letters could be sitting on a pensions goldmine."
Webb urged those who have received a letter from DWP to respond as soon as possible.
As of December 2023, DWP had identified almost £500mn in state pension underpayments, a figure it said could rise to £835mn, for errors between January 11, 2021 and October 31, 2023.
The FOI revealed the majority of these cases, 1,671, were sent to a next of kin.
Some 131 letters related to cases where a married woman’s low pension was not automatically increased when her husband retired, and 57 cases relate to underpaid pensions to the over 80s.
DWP said they only work out the amount potentially owed when they receive a reply to the letter.
Webb added the letters often arrive "out of the blue" and people may not realise the importance of responding.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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