The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) identified 31,817 state pension underpayments between January 2021 and last October, making it possible to hand back £209.3m.
However, in its progress on reviewing cases of state pension underpayment, it said that as many as 237,000 pensioners had been underpaid around £1.46bn.
DWP has admitted that there are systematic errors in state pension calculations for three main groups.
Married women, who should have received an upgrade to a 60% basic state pension when their husband retired. The DWP said the average payment arrears in this group amounted to £6,929. It repaid £91.1m.
The second group are widowers who should have inherited an enhanced state pension when their spouse died. The government found 7,876 underpayments under this category and repaid £84m.
The last group are over 80s already in receipt of a state pension when they turned 80, who should have been automatically upgraded to a 60% basic state pension. In this case, the DWP found 10,784 cases and handed back £34.2m.
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