Thousands of households are set to receive up to £5,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in missed back payments.

A DWP error meant thousands of people did not receive the cash they were due because of a problem issuing payments.

Those affected by the underpayments are on state pension, and the issues were related to National Insurance and missing home responsibilities protection (HRP), it is understood.

DWP Pensions Minister Paul Maynard MP estimated that there were around 187,000 cases of underpayments of state pension, totalling an estimated £1 million.

He had been asked by Labour’s Dame Angela Eagle about the average value of state pension underpayments.

In his written response, the Pensions Minister said: “The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway.

"The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.

"In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate value of an underpayment was £5,000 for alive cases above state pension age and £3,000 for deceased cases. We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s annual report and accounts."

Previously, millions of Universal Credit claimants were warned their state pension records may be incorrect, resulting in underpayments.

However, Mr Maynard said the DWP had now corrected these issues.

He added: “This data has been shared with HMRC.

"As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly."

To check if you may be owed money from an underpayment on your state pension you should call the pension service on 0800 731 0469.

You can find out more about the issue by visiting the Gov.uk website.