The Department for Work and Pensions has alerted transgender women to check whether they could be eligible to receive state pension back-payments.
In a post on its website, published yesterday (October 4), the DWP said certain transgender women may be able to apply for backdated state pension payments as a result of a recent court case.
The government said transgender women born between October 31,1953 and November 6,1953 may be eligible to receive the state pension from October 31, 2018 to the date of their 65th birthday.
These individuals must have also lived in their acquired gender for at least two years by this October date and have had gender reassignment surgery.
The DWP said this is because a court ruling stated that a person who has had reassignment surgery and lived in their acquired gender for a significant period “must be recognised in their acquired gender for state pension purposes”.
Delays
However, the DWP has been grappling with delays in processing state pension payments for those reaching pension age.
The DWP is working to clear backlogs that have accumulated during to the Covid pandemic, having now sorted out staffing issues that contributed to the delays.
Normal service is expected to resume by the end of October.
Back in July, the DWP said it was recruiting 183 individuals to help handle enquiries about the state pension.
It came after pensions minister Guy Opperman announced in April that throughout 2021/22 the department would look to hire an additional 360 staff, bringing its total to 510, to help it deal with the issue of state pension underpayments.
amy.austin@ft.com
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