The change will add £361 a year to the old basic pension and £473 to the new state pension.

If successful, the campaign could cost the Government hundreds of millions of pounds in state pension arrears.

There was a 116% increase in the number of people claiming pension credit in 2022/23.

With most pensioners paying tax, and more than half next year’s rise simply keeping pace with inflation, most pensioners will still be worse off overall in real terms if they...

The net cost of pension tax relief to the Treasury was £48.3 billion for 2021/22.

Payments could range from a few pounds to over £100,000.

The new errors affect people claiming the new state pension who were already widowed when they retired.

Of the £83 billion taken in flexible payments since inception in 2015, 65% has been taken by those aged under 65.

Just £2.2m in arrears has so far been paid out compared with an estimated final bill of £1.15 billion.

A quarter think the state pension will not exist in its current form by the time they retire.