Millions of DWP state pension records could be deleted leaving people with no way to get pension errors corrected, former pensions minister Steve Webb has warned.

Pension records are normally deleted four years after someone dies, but that leaves heirs with little chance of reclaiming underpaid pensions.

Mr Webb, partner at consultants LCP, pointed out that multiple errors in state pension payments have been admitted by the DWP in recent years, and in some cases the people affected died before things could be put right. 

He said that out of an estimated 194,000 people, mostly women, affected by errors relating to ‘home responsibilities protection’, 43,000 died having never benefited from the benefit. Mr Webb said the deceased women were underpaid an estimated £127m.

To overcome the problem, DWP temporarily paused deletions from 2021 as part of a correction exercise on underpaid pensions to married women, widows and the over 80s.

But a recent response to an FOI request from Mr Webb said that although the deletions have not restarted yet, the DWP could start deleting again soon.

The FOI reply said: “Application of the standard retention policy remains paused. Once the embargo is lifted, then we will look at deletion of records that are no longer required and re-apply the retention policy.”

Mr Webb said that with around 500,000 people over state pension age dying each year, a decision to now delete data for deaths in 2017 to 2020 inclusive, which were originally retained but are more than four years old, could potentially lead to as many as two million records being wiped.

He has written to Sir Peter Schofield, the permanent secretary at the DWP, asking him to ensure that records are retained for as long as they may be needed to clear up any outstanding state pension errors.

Mr Webb said: “I often hear from people who are trying to sort out errors in the state pension of loved ones who are no longer with us, but are told nothing can be done because the records have been destroyed.  

“While we cannot get back the records that have already been deleted, it is essential that DWP does not now delete millions more records, especially given the live process of trying to fix errors around Home Responsibilities Protection. 

“The least we can do for people who were never paid the right pension is to do all we can to make sure that at least their families get the money they missed out on.”