DWP sending letter to thousands and thousands with £5,000 increase – are you due a fee?

Millions of people born before a certain year are in for an eye-opening surprise—a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) letter bringing news of a £5,000 boost.

About 210,000 women in their 60s and 70s could be due a back payment and higher State Pension payments due to old errors. A wallet-whopping £1.5 billion has been underpaid in State Pensions.

HMRC left out some years where parents claimed child benefit while bringing up children – officially called ‘home responsibilities protection’ – from National Insurance records.

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Former Lib Dem Pensions Minister Steve Webb, says HMRC has posted letters to more than 250,000 people who are now enjoying their twilight years and could be quids in. And Now, they’re targeting those currently under retirement age.

“Anyone who has received such a letter should make sure that they respond so that their position can be checked,” he advises. You could be due money if you claimec child benefit from 1978/79 onwards, reports Birmingham Live.

And, if you’ve got a partner who nabbed child benefit, there’s a chance to hit the jackpot by swapping names when the ‘wrong’ parent bagged the benefit.

Ros Altmann, now a member of the House of Lords said: “This seems to be a further display of DWP lack of resource. I’m sure the Department wants to help as many people as possible.”

She added “The trouble is that with the latest disaster of winter fuel payments and the desire to boost pension credit take-up, so much resource has been diverted to processing those claims rather than sorting out backlogs on state pension.

“I don’t know what the answer is but clearly there is a lack of sufficient people to assess and approve or pay claims.”