“Once compensation has been paid, the government needs to undertake a comprehensive review of its processes to ensure these mistakes are never repeated.
“Trust in pensions is fragile at the best of times and failures such as this will not help. Sadly, it will likely take years, if not decades, to rebuild the confidence lost as a result of this scandal.”
DWP said the latest update showed it reviewed an average of over 15,000 cases per month between November 2022 and February 2023, compared with an average of 5,000 per month in the first 22 months of the exercise.
This year the government will spend more than £110bn on the state pension and support 12.5mn pensioners.
A DWP spokesperson said: “The action we are taking now will correct historical underpayments made by successive governments. We are fully committed to addressing these errors, not identified under previous governments, as quickly as possible.
"We have set up a dedicated team and devoted significant resources towards completing this, with further resources being allocated throughout 2023 to ensure pensioners receive the support to which they’re entitled."
amy.austin@ft.com
