The Department for Work and Pensions could owe hundreds of thousands of pensioners across the country up to £6,929 each after a major blunder.

At the beginning of 2023, the department said that it expects to fix a series of state pension underpayments for two groups of women.

Pensions Minister Laura Trott said that those on CAT BL and CAT D should have any problems rectified by the end of the year but some could have trouble well into 2024.

It was reported that a further 100,000 state pension cases were being raised as having possible underpayments.

The Northern Echo: (PA) Thousands of pensioners may be entitled to money after DWP mistake(PA) Thousands of pensioners may be entitled to money after DWP mistake (Image: PA)

DWP chiefs will be looking at some 700,000 state pensions instead of the previously estimated 400,000.

This could increase the amount of time it takes to fix the underpayments by as much as a year.

The two groups of women included in this are married women who should've received an upgraded state pension and those aged over 80.

Figures from the DWP suggest that £209.3 million in state pension underpayments have been paid to some 31,000 eligible pensioners.

Married women are receiving average payments of over £6,000 amid major DWP state pension underpayment

The report also revealed that the average payment made to married women averaged around £6,929 while the average arrear paid to those over 80 was around £1,172.

However, it has been noted that pensioners receiving the arrears payments should be aware that this may affect their other entitlements.

The Local Authority Welfare bulletin, which updates guidance, states that when an underpayment is identified, the DWP will contact the person concerned.

The DWP will inform them of the changes to their state pension amount and of any arrears they will receive.

It added that the money will be backdated to the date they became entitled to the amount.

Find out more on the Department for Work and Pensions website.