State pensioners have been 'short changed' by £24 every week for 18 years

Thousands of state pensioners who are retired and married could be set to be handed five-figure sums from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a result.

State pensioners have warned they have been SHORT CHANGED by £24 every week for 18 years. Thousands of state pensioners who are retired and married could be set to be handed five-figure sums from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as a result.

Jan Tiernan, 84, has been short-changed by £24 every week for 18 years because of a pre-2008 rule meant she was eligible for a boost to her state pension payments when her husband retired. The issue relates to a large group of married women on the basic state pension - so those who reached pension age before April 2016 - who did not see their state pension payments increased in line with their husband's National Insurance record.

These women should have seen their payments boosted to 60 per cent of their husband's basic state pension entitlement - but many did not realise they had to apply for this increase. “It’s a scandal,” she told The Telegraph. “That money would have changed my life.”

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Ms Tiernan, from Thornton in Fife, says the DWP told her that Roy, her husband of 62 years, was sent a letter when he turned 65 to inform him that his wife was entitled to claim a state pension top-up. But Ms Tiernan insists neither of them received any correspondence.

“I felt angry. I told them I never got any information, but they didn’t believe me,” she said. She added: “It’s sexist – it’s so wrong. Why should the DWP tell the husband that the wife needs to claim? What if a couple has separated?

“It’s also maladministration. We should have been sent a letter telling us we could claim. And if [the DWP] didn’t hear, they should remind us, like when they chase you if you owe tax.” She said: “It would have allowed us to travel. We could have gone on a cruise. My husband was at the early stages of his illness, but we could still do things.”

Ms Tiernan said: “I hope it’s successful. We are owed this money. I think [the DWP] hoped we were too old to claim. My granddaughter says I’m like a dog with a bone.”