An expert has advised older people to check to see if they could be owed a significant amount of money from the Department for Work and Pensions.

More than 370,000 pensioners – mostly women – have been contacted informing them they could be owed an average of £8,377, reports MirrorOnline.

Data from the DWP shows that between 8 January 2024 and 31 March 2025, a joint State Pensions corrections exercise with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found 12,379 underpayments to women whose National Insurance (NI) records are incorrect.

READ MORE: £300 DWP letters arriving on doorsteps from Wednesday

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In 2022, the DWP discovered several State Pension cases where it appeared that historic periods of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) were missing, resulting in inaccurate State Pension payments.

To date, an estimated £104 million in arrears have been paid out, with an average payment of £8,377.

Retirement specialist Helen Morrissey therefore urged older people to fill out the online form or contact the Pension Service if they believe they have been impacted.

This comes after a study from the DWP showed the main reasons why those who received a letter from HMRC asking them to check their State Pension – as it could be incorrect – have failed to do so.

HMRC has dispatched over 370,000 letters, mostly to women, encouraging them to review their State Pension payments as they may be lower than they are entitled to.

However, DWP research suggests that the majority of people contacted by letter did not proceed to apply for HRP.

Obstacles included:

Misunderstanding the letter

Believing the communication was fraudulent

Dependence on digital methods to submit a claim

The HRP scheme, which was designed to safeguard parents’ and carers’ entitlement to the State Pension, was replaced by National Insurance (NI) credits from 6 April 2010.

HMRC is utilising NI records to identify as many individuals as possible who may have been eligible for HRP between 1978 and 2010 but have no HRP on their NI record.

After May 2000, it became compulsory to include an NI number on claims, so those claiming after this point will not have been affected.

Ms Morrissey, who is the head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This research lays bare the complexities the government faces in resolving the long running issue of underpaid State Pensions.