Hundreds of thousands of pensioners are being chased for more than £100m due to “official errors” made by the Government. Overpayments from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have landed elderly Brits in debt, with only £3m written off so far. A freedom of information request lodged by the i Paper has revealed that an additional £109m worth of state pension payments were given out due to departmental errors in 2024-2025.
This figure has risen by £30m from the previous year, which has affected an estimated 220,000 state pensioners. The DWP said the money paid out was “not as a result of a failure to disclose or misrepresentation by the claimant but instead as a result of a departmental error”. However, just one in 100 pensioners had their debts written off, the data shows – the average amount per claimant was £1,160.
According to charities, the department was “on shaky legal ground in demanding repayments of state pensions or benefits caused by its own incompetence”. Speaking to the i Paper, they warned that claimants may have been thrown into financial hardship due to overpayment deductions.
Citizens Advice added that many pensioners had received a limited explanation over the situation, and that the DWP “provides very little information, especially in cases of historic overpayments”.
A spokesperson for the department said it was “determined to tackle fraud, error and debt” and their wider plans will save taxpayers £1.5bn by 2030.
The governmental department is still continuing to work alongside the spending watchdog to pay back pensioners who received lower sums that they should have.
Figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) shows that some 200,000 pensioners, the majority of whom are widows and women who were entitled to higher payments, are owed a total of £1.5bn due to errors in historic calculations.
A DWP spokesman said: “We are determined to tackle fraud, error and debt, and through our Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill, we are bringing forward the biggest crackdown in a generation.
“Thanks to our reforms, we will save the taxpayer £1.5bn over the next five years, as part of wider plans that will save £9.6bn by 2030.”
