Recommendation 15

We asked the Department about the findings of the NAO financial audit of the Department’s 2020–21 accounts, which identified nearly 200 of 1,500 cases where the LEAP reviewers had incorrectly assessed arrears on married women’s entitlement.31 The NAO concluded that, given the complexity of the rules governing State Pension entitlement, it is likely that at least some errors will continue to be made in the correction exercise, particularly with more complex cases. The NAO also found that it is possible that some pensioners who have contacted the Department to find out if they have been 26 C&AG’s Report, Figure 8 27 C&AG’s Report, para 4.5 28 Qq 59, 65–67; C&AG’s Report, para 4.5 29 Qq 62, 67 30 Q 2; Correspondence with the minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion – delays to payments for state pensions 31 Q 79; C&AG’s Report, para 4.7 14 Underpayments of the State Pension underpaid were wrongly reassured that their payments are correct.32 The Department told us that since the errors were discovered it has strengthened its quality assurance over the LEAP exercise.33 It wrote to us following the evidence session setting out that the financial accuracy rate in the correction exercise improved over time from 87.4% in Q1 of 2020–21 to 96% as of October 2021, although it acknowledged that ‘there is clearly room for continued improvement’.34 The Department said its main focus has been on upgrading and improving its system for managing new State Pension, though it acknowledged that there will be a ‘long period’ where the old State Pension systems continue to be necessary.35 Clarity of communications