Grandmother wins back £82,000 after taking Martin Lewis' pension advice

30 October 2020, 08:12 | Updated: 30 October 2020, 08:16

Martin Lewis' advice bagged a retired woman £82k. Picture: ITV/Getty Images

Retired woman Jill was able to claim the huge sum of money back after watching Martin Lewis on TV.

A retired woman managed to claim £82k after following advice from financial expert Martin Lewis.

Jill, 77, realised she might be owed money after watching The Martin Lewis Money Show on ITV three months ago.

The grandmother married husband Robin 20 years ago but sadly, he was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2008.

Jill explained: "At the time Robin died I got a very basic state pension.”

Martin Lewis has helped a woman claim £82k. Picture: ITV

But Jill didn’t know she could claim on her late husband’s pension as well, until she saw Martin talking about it on his show more than a decade later.

After writing to the pension office, Jill was told she was owed a whopping £82,100.

She said: "Much to my surprise I had a telephone call from a young lady, who said, in fact, I had been underpaid.

“I was stunned, I just couldn’t get it into my head, it was astounding.

“My first reaction was ‘wow all this money’ but when I started to think about it, this is money I was entitled to 12 years ago.”

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This £82,000 was paid to Jill in a lump sum and she put the money into her savings.

Jill added: "I think it'll be a good Christmas for the family, my grandchildren as well as my children."

After sharing the story, Money Saving Expert Martin called it ‘unbelievable’, adding: “It's one of the biggest success stories I've ever had".

Martin also said hundreds of thousands of women could be missing out on a state pension pay out too.

This is because married women who hit state pension age before April 2016 should get a minimum of 60% of their husband's state pension amount.

Martin explained that anyone who has been underpaid can get it backdated based on when their husband turned 65.

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He said: “Remember, the amount of state pension you get depends on your National Insurance Contributions that you made each year while you were working or while you were caring and various other circumstances.

“Now not only are you entitled to a top up, but you can get it back dated.

"The exact back date depends when your husband turned 65.

“If it was before March 2008, then at that time, you should have been asking for a top up so if you didn't ask for a top up, you could only backdated one year now.

"If it was after March 2008, then the system was meant to be automatic top ups, but it glitched as it did for Jill, which means you can backdate it all the way back.

“Hence, £82,000 pounds. Now look, this is pretty complicated, I would go and do your reading online there's also a calculator at Lane Clark and peacocks advisory firm.”

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