Thousands of Irish women who once resided in the UK may soon discover they're entitled to a substantial pension refund. This is due to a discrepancy in the British pension system, where over 230,000 women received less than their rightful amount. The average refund amount is around £7,000 (€8,045), according to British authorities. While the exact number of Irish women affected remains unknown, advisors in the Republic of Ireland estimate it could be significant, given the number of Irish residents entitled to UK pensions based on previous residency in Northern Ireland or Britain. XtraPension, a Galway-based advisor specializing in UK state pension applications, advises women receiving British pensions to check with the UK Department of Work and Pensions to determine if they're affected. Most impacted individuals will have reached retirement age before April 2016, when British authorities introduced a new state pension system with different entitlements. This includes women who took time out of the workforce to care for children or those with disabilities, as well as married, widowed, or divorced women, depending on their specific circumstances. Married women were entitled to a pension boost when their husbands turned 65, regardless of their own national insurance record. However, this didn't apply to hundreds of thousands of women. Anyone currently receiving less than 60% of the full state pension rate is eligible for a refund. With the basic state pension rate at £176.45, these women should receive a weekly UK pension of £105.87 (€121.70). Women who divorced their husbands after reaching state pension age can claim the same pension their husbands received, potentially up to £176.45. Widows whose husbands reached state pension age before April 6th, 2016, but passed away since, or those whose husbands died before reaching pension age, are also eligible for a payout. Those affected can only have the enhanced pension backdated for 12 months, but a group of women is currently appealing this rule. For more information, contact the British Department of Work and Pensions International Pension Centre at +44 (0) 191 218 7777 or by mail to The Pension Service, 11, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1AF, England. They'll need their national insurance number and details of their current UK state pension.
