‘At the forefront of highlighting pensions injustice’: This is Money’s Tanya Jefferies scoops Outstanding Achievement award

The campaign journalism and in-depth investigations of This is Money’s Investment and Pensions editor Tanya Jefferies have been recognized with a special award.

Tanya won Headline Money’s Outstanding Achievement award for being “at the forefront of drawing attention to inequitable pensions.”

Over the past few years, Tanya has worked tirelessly with our retirement columnist Sir Steve Webb to solve the myriad of problems in the state pension system – making a huge difference to the retirement income of current and future retirees.

The most high-profile case involved exposing the scandal over underpaid state pensions for women – leading to Tanya, Steve and This is Money being mentioned in the National Audit Office report and recovering an estimated £1.2bn for those affected.

She has also revealed – along with Steve – how older mothers fell a further £1bn short, while younger mothers missed out on state pension credits from child support.

Tanya helped secure a win for up to ten million people on Universal Credit who weren’t getting the NI credits they deserved, revealing how the system of supplemental government pensions was messed up – which the government eventually tacitly acknowledged by twice having to extend a special deadline to buy them.

The judges said: “This highly respected Investments and Pensions editor has continuously campaigned for those affected by flaws in the pension system, raising awareness of issues such as underpayment of the state pension, miscalculations of the DWP, the government’s failure to notify women of increases in the state pension age and the little-understood link between child benefit and state pension.

“Working with Sir Steve Webb to demonstrate the power of investigative journalism and the importance of listening to readers’ concerns, her work in exposing state pension underpayments led to an investigation by the National Audit Office, resulting in a government report acknowledging her role in exposing the scandal.”

Simon Lambert of This is Money said: ‘Tanya’s award is well deserved, but I know the real reward for her and Steve Webb, with whom she works closely, is the money they’ve reclaimed for countless retirees and the real difference it will make to their quality of life.

Receiving her award at the Headline Money event last week, Tanya was praised for her “ongoing advocacy and tenacity for those seeking justice for pensions.”

Lee Boyce of This is Money said, ‘Tanya persists in her work, helping as many readers as she can each day.

‘It’s a lot of legwork behind the scenes and back and forth with various government departments, which can often be called no more than Kafkaesque.

“But her tenacity, determination and attitude of never giving up make Tanya one of the top personal finance journalists in the country, in our opinion. The number of readers she has helped over the past ten years is astonishing.

“We are delighted that this hard work has been recognized in the form of the grand prize awarded in what has been described as the Oscars for personal finance journalists.

“Bravo Tanya.”