I turned 66 and didn’t receive my state pension – DWP payment error forces nurse to delay retirement

An NHS nurse has been forced to put her retirement plans on hold and continue doing shifts because the Department for Work and Pensions has not started paying her state pension.

Jayne Morgan, who turned 66 in early April, says her protests and a formal complaint produced no explanation for the delay, although she had submitted her online application without any apparent problems six weeks before her birthday.

Still waiting for his pension and with no news from the DWP, he contacted us earlier this month.

She told us: ‘The lack of this expected income has thrown my retirement plans into disarray and I am very worried that something has gone terribly wrong.’

And of the impact this had on her and her husband, she said: ‘We thought we had this all planned out. We did everything necessary and we did it in advance. We weren’t expecting a delay. This prevents me from withdrawing. I keep working.’

Mrs Morgan, who lives in Essex, has had a 40-year career in the NHS and is owed a full state pension.

Steve Webb, former Pensions Minister and This is Money retirement columnist, says she was let down by the system after a lifetime of service; he read his full opinion below.

> Have you experienced delays in state pensions? Find out how to contact us below

From autumn 2022 and well into 2023, many people faced nightmarish battles with the DWP to get state pension payments started after turning 66.

We covered a number of cases of readers who fell into financial difficulties, or even were forced into hardship and hunger due to state pension delays.

The DWP promised to eliminate delays and, since that crisis, This is Money tends to hear mainly from savers who are having problems with top-up purchases and expats who are suffering administrative delays, or occasionally from people who are having trouble ending deferrals of state pensions.

However, This is Money is currently investigating the case of another reader who turned 66 in March and says he is desperately waiting for his payments to start almost three months later.

Our investigation into that case is ongoing.

If you qualify and claim a state pension on time, you should start paying it in arrears four weeks after turning 66; If your payments do not arrive after that date, details on how to contact us are to the right.

After we raised her case with the DWP, Mrs Morgan started receiving her state pension and received a back pay of just over £2,000.

But by then she had made numerous calls and made complaints to the DWP, and got nowhere on her own despite being assured her case would be escalated.

Mrs Morgan says it was frustrating to have no indication of what could have gone wrong.

He contacted HMRC at one point, but staff told him they did not understand why his state pension payments had not started.

Mrs Morgan bought top-ups to fill gaps in her National Insurance record twice, most recently earlier this year.

These purchases did not pose any difficulties at the time and it is not clear whether they affected his state pension claim.

But he suddenly received a check for £660 from HMRC, with a note attached saying their records show you are owed a refund or payment, but giving no further information.

This could be a refund of your state pension top-ups, but we are still seeking an explanation from HMRC for this payment.

The DWP was asked to comment on the delay in Ms Morgan’s state pension but was unable to make a statement due to pre-election rules.

However, it apologized for any inconvenience caused by an administrative error, began paying her a full state pension of £221.20 a week and issued arrears.

Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb, who is now a partner at LCP, says: ‘Ms Morgan did everything she was supposed to do, but the system let her down.

‘The whole idea of ​​online claims is to make everything as easy as possible for DWP and yet they still haven’t paid Mrs Morgan’s pension on time and her life has been on hold waiting for this to be resolved.

“Especially after a lifetime of service in the NHS, Ms Morgan deserves to be treated better than this rather than being met with a wall of silence.”