Pensioner failed to receive state pension ‘due to computer glitch’
Have you received your last AOW benefit? Pensioner, 79, whose £613 went unturned says DWP told him a ‘computer glitch’ had changed hundreds of people’s addresses
- When he called DWP, Peter O’Reilly discovered that the address it had for him was wrong
- The 79-year-old has lived in the same place in Leeds for ten years
- Did you miss a payment? Find out how to contact us below
Peter O’Reilly: Pensioner whose state pension has not arrived was told by DWP that ‘hundreds of others’ could be affected by a computer glitch that has caused people’s addresses to change
A 79-year-old whose state pension of £613 failed to come in this month was told a computer glitch with people’s addresses had affected him and ‘hundreds of others’.
Peter O’Reilly says that first his annual state pension letter did not arrive, then his last payment was missed on April 10.
When he called the Department of Work and Pensions, he discovered that the address associated with his NI number was wrong.
Many people are now anxiously awaiting their state pension after a 10.1 percent increase, although the increase, because it is paid in arrears, will not be reflected in one lump sum in this month’s payments.
Mr O’Reilly, a retired journalist who has lived at the same address in Leeds for 10 years, says a DWP staff member told him after waiting half an hour that his details had been marked as ‘change of circumstances’.
He was given a separate number to call and after another half hour of waiting he reached another member of staff who read out an address the DWP had on his records which was incorrect.
Mr O’Reilly was told the error would be corrected and his state pension would be paid in two to three days, but in that case the money would be in his account almost immediately.
Although his problem was quickly resolved, Mr O’Reilly feared that other retirees who needed more money could be affected.
He contacted This is Money to tell us: ‘After ages on the phone, I just got word that along with “hundreds of others” my state pension wasn’t being paid this month because a computer glitch accidentally changed our address. ‘
He added, “In my case, it’s not a big sweat. But if you wait to pay your meter and your pension doesn’t come in, what do you do?’
We asked the RDW how many people have not received their state pension due to Mr O’Reilly’s computer problem.
We also asked if the DWP was proactively reaching out to them, or if it should wait for people to get in touch because it doesn’t know who or how many have been affected.
The DWP was not commenting at the time of publication.
This month the fully lump sum state pension rose 10.1 per cent to £203.85 a week or £10,600 a year after the government honored its triple lock state pension commitment to ensure pensioners get a decent rise in income each year.
Those who retired at the base rate before April 2016 will be paid £156.20 per week or £8,120 per year.
That lower amount is supplemented with additional AOW entitlements – S2P and Serps – if accrued during working years.
Our retirement columnist Steve Webb explains here how various components of the state pension, such as staggered and SERPS (the second state pension, for those who earned it in the past) will be increased starting this month.