UK woman learns about pension, missed out on Rs 77 lakhs

A 100-year-old woman from the UK missed out on £75,000 (Rs 77,39,117) in the last 20 years, thinking that she was ineligible for a pension.

Margaret Bradshaw, born in Croydon, UK, in 1921 is the woman in question. She lived and worked in Canada for 30 years of her adult life, so she assumed that she was ineligible for the state pension when she returned to the country in 1990.

Margaret was eligible for the state pension when she turned 80 in 2001. But she was unaware until her 100th birthday and realized that she had missed out on 20 years of pension.

The news was broken to Margaret by her daughter, Helen Cunningham (78), who read an article about people not claiming their pensions and found out that Margaret has been entitled to £82.45 (Rs 8,461) a week since her 80th birthday.

In the UK, citizens over the age of 80 are eligible for the pension, despite no national insurance contributions.

Margaret currently lives in a care home in Addlestone, Surrey, and suffers from Dementia.

She is now finally receiving her weekly pension after her daughter sought assistance from Sir Steve Webb, the former pension minister.

Her daughter said that she had never heard of a pension for people over 80 and only learnt about it a few weeks ago. She added that expenses of care homes had been making her nervous and the news made her feel relieved as Margaret Bradshaw had only been living on a small amount of pension from her jobs in Canada.

So far she has received backdated payments up to £4,000 (Rs 4,12,753) the remaining amount is lost forever.