How many state pensions have been underpaid? With Steve Webb

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2020

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A This is Money investigation has revealed a string of women who have been underpaid their state pension, but are they just the tip of an iceberg?

On this week’s podcast, our pensions agony uncle Steve Webb and pension and investing editor Tanya Jefferies tell the stories of the women paid thousands less in state pension over the years than they should have been - and discuss their probe into the matter.

Steve estimates that there could be tens of thousands of women who have been underpaid state pension.

This is Money has called for a full review, but the Department of Work and Pensions is reluctant to act other than on a case-by-case basis.

Should more be done?

Also, on this week’s podcast Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost discuss the reopening of the property market, who might be brave enough to buy and sell now, and what the forecasts are for sales and house prices.

Estate agents Knight Frank predict a 7 per cent drop, while the Bank of England says property prices may fall 16 per cent, but agents claim that lockdown has created pent-up demand.

And, as the furlough scheme is extended, we look at the implications of 7.5million people having 80 per cent of their wages picked up by the state and how Britain weans itself off that.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money. I'm Georgie Frost and alongside editor Simon Lambert. Me today is Pensions and
0:05.5	special guest, former pensions minister, and this is Money Pensions Agony Uncle, Steve Webb,
0:13.1	which is a bit of a giveaway as to what is coming up today. This is Money investigation is continuing
0:18.4	to uncover more women underpaid their state pension. Is it you?
0:22.6	We'll let you know how to check. Plus, we turn our attention onto the impact of coronavirus on your
0:27.3	pension, whether you have years left to save or you're taking your pension soon. Also,
0:32.3	the Chancellor warns of a significant recession as Boris eases lockdown. the housing market gets the green light,
0:38.5	and the furlough scheme gets extended. Shake it all together and what do you have? Well, who knows,
0:43.4	but Simon might have an idea. And of getting this day up to date with all the latest breaking
0:46.7	money news, just go to this ismoney.com.uk or download the app. But first, for some time now,
0:52.4	this is money has been investigating a government cock-up that's left an untold number of elderly women, thousands of pounds poorer in retirement.
1:00.0	In the past few weeks alone, our tenure has discovered six more women who've been underpaid their
1:04.6	state pension to the tune of around 22 grand over years. This is on top of two women who got back payments totaling $14,000 last month as a result of their investigation. And it's clear these are not the only cases. So, Steve, welcome. You first uncovered this via a question to your This is Money Pensions column. Tell us about that.
1:28.0	How did this happen?
1:29.4	How has it been allowed to happen?
1:31.6	Well, one of the things about writing the weekly column is that you find out what people
1:35.3	don't understand about pensions, everything from private pensions and state pensions.
1:39.3	And sometimes you come across things and think, that just doesn't look right.
1:42.9	And what happened in this case is that
1:44.4	there used to be a system whereby, this all sounds terribly old-fashioned, because it's a system
1:49.0	designed in the 1940s, but where the assumption was that married women were essentially
1:53.0	financially dependent on their husbands. So as a concession, if you like, there was a rule which said
	...

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