'We have become so used to stories about state pension errors that it is easy to become dulled to the scale of what went wrong,' says former minister Steve Webb. 'The remaining corrections need to be handled as a matter of urgency. This should never be allowed to happen again.' In the past few weeks, bereaved families who waited years to find out if relatives lost out on state pension have been informed the Government has abandoned further investigation of their cases.

I have a personal pension which I opened in the 1980s with Wesleyan Financial Services. In recent years, I received letters and emails suggesting my pension would be 'lifestyled' into a lower-risk fund five years ahead of my claim date, which was set to be when I turned 65 in March 2020. This did not happen and instead, my money remained in a fund rated moderate-high risk/high reward until March 2020. Had my pension been moved into a lower-risk fund in 2015, as Wesleyan said it would be in its letters, I believe I would not have lost as much money.

I've just been notified that my company pension will be transferred to an insurance company via bulk annuity. I understand that many companies seem to be taking advantage of the increase in gilt yields to do this. My questions is if the insurance company were to fail would my pension be taken over by the Pension Protection Fund as would be the case if the company failed?

I retired after getting a final quote from Willis Towers Watson for my Rockwell Automation pension. It told me to expect a lump sum of £146,000 and an annual pension of £22,198. However, the lump sum I ended up receiving was about £5,000 less and my annual pension was only £21,685. WTW has said that it is sorry, and that it had made a mistake, and has offered me £500 compensation.

The DWP told Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesman Steve Darling it could still review state pension awards despite deletion of old records. 'Bereaved families deserve transparency and a fair chance to ensure their relatives received what they were entitled to,' he told us.

Topping up your pension ahead of the tax year end deadline can be a winning strategy all round if you can afford it, explain money experts. Here's what you need to know if you are looking at whether to add to your retirement fund by the 5 April deadline.

Owning a second home is about to become a much more expensive pursuit, thanks to a barrage of tax increases imposed in recent months. Extra stamp duty and council tax levied on second properties could mean the sums no longer add up for many Britons.

A raid on inherited pensions from 2027, on top of frozen thresholds and higher property values, is going to force better off families to hand over more of their wealth when their loved ones die. The Treasury is now predicted to rake in a total of £66.9billion between 2024 and the end of the decade - up £2.4billion on the OBR's last forecast made at the autumn Budget.

I started a modest software company 27 years ago, and my wife and I now earn up to £8million a year. For so long as I am still working - is it reasonable to gift up to £1million of what we earn annually to the children without causing issues with HMRC and the gifting rules?

I inherited half of mothers property after her partner died in 2023. She died 24 years ago. I had no choice but to allow him to live in the house, yet his beneficiaries will not owe any capital gains tax as a result of this, whereas I am worried I will face a large bill through circumstances I could do nothing about.

I am 77 years of age and divorced. I purchased a flat in 1999 for £90,000, and the approximate value now is £240,000. I don't use it as my main home and currently rent it out, so capital gains tax will be due if I sell. I would like to benefit my two grandchildren with this flat and wondered what would be the best advice for doing this.

Pension freedoms allowed retirees to take control of their pension savings, shifting away from the obligation to purchase an annuity, says Ed Monk of Fidelity. By 2024, 2.6 million people had accessed their pension funds flexibly, using them as income while keeping a portion invested for the future. So, how kind were markets to those who made this choice...?

My last surviving daughter died of cancer aged 56 last May and I have been sorting out her affairs as executor. Most organisations have been helpful, but I am hitting a brick wall with Aviva over her pension. I have asked if most of the policy can be paid to her two brothers. But nothing gets done.

Many older people, particularly those with poor health or no internet access, are losing out on financial support due to 'long and complex' application forms that can take over four hours to complete, charity Independent Age has warned. Elderly charity Independent Age is calling for the government to simplify the process for older people to access basic entitlements such as pension credit and housing benefit. One pensioner, 69-year-old Susan, said she was reduced to tears by the process. 'Not only were the questions difficult to understand, dwelling on all of the things that I am no longer capable of doing sent me into a very dark place,' she told researchers.

Since last summer the Government has received 235,000 pension credit claims, up from around 130,000 in the same period the year before. But some 114,500 applications were rejected, which was a 133 per cent jump in claims not awarded compared with the year before. The Government's decision last summer that Winter Fuel Payments would be means-tested in future sparked an outcry from charities and campaigners for the elderly.

We have no children, but were foster carers to two young girls, one is now 19 years old and the other is 16 years old. We wish to leave any assets to these young women, but in a way that protects them from potential 'predators', or their own lack of financial acumen, but gives them support as and when needed.

While many people dislike the idea of an annuity, the alternative means keeping your pension invested in retirement and managing it yourself - a process that can be confusing and full of pitfalls. So here's a checklist, from investing, to income, taxes, the state pension, inheritance, illness, financial advice and much else.

Turning your pension funds into an income that can replace your salary is among the most important financial moves you will make in your life. Here, we look at what you can expect from your work scheme as you get closer to retirement, and round up expert advice on how to maximise what you will have to live on in old age.

Investors can rack up big losses early on and never make them up if they aren't careful. People who persist in taking an income in those circumstances can pile up future problems. But you can put defences in place against market shocks before you retire, and there are ways to overcome investment setbacks in the early years too. Find out how...

The bond market crash in recent months has drawn attention to a little-known or understood investment strategy that many workers are 'defaulted' into in the run-up to retirement. Some older workers have discovered to their horror that they are sitting on huge losses right on the brink of retirement , which they might be forced to delay as a result. Here's what you need to know about pension lifestyling...

This depends on when the surviving partner reaches or has passed state pension age and their spouse's date of birth and National Insurance record. What you might get if anything is far more limited if you reached or are still due to reach state pension age after April 2016.

Modern work pensions are essentially cheap investment products provided and subsidised by employers. At a time when money is tight, it's worth exploring what they can do for you - including some obscure and surprising add-on benefits. Auto enrolment into work pensions takes the hassle out of saving for retirement, but you could be missing a trick or two by not looking any further than that.

Elderly women could receive nearly £1.5billion in state pension arrears after being shortchanged for decades, the Government admitted this week. A lot of women are understandably asking if they missed out on thousands of pounds in state pension, and we explain how to find out and what to do if you are owed money by the DWP. The scandal was uncovered by former Pensions Minister Steve Webb and This is Money, after we launched an investigation into a reader question to his weekly column in early 2020.

No one wants to save up all their working life for a decent retirement only to get stuck with an avoidable tax bill. Unfortunately, there are many tax traps for the unwary when it comes to pensions. It's especially important to find out about them if you decide not to get financial advice when you start tapping your fund. We asked pension experts for their tips on what trips people up the most often, and how to keeping a retirement fund as safe as possible from the taxman.

There are many legal ways to dodge the dreaded 40 per cent 'death tax' if you want to pass on the maximum sum possible and are prepared to plan ahead. Here's our round-up of 10 ways to reduce or avoid a large inheritance tax bill, some of which can be undertaken easily by any ordinary person without the need for elaborate arrangements or to pay for professional help.

Hoard your pension and spend other cash and investments first, to keep your money away from the taxman. That's the advice experts dish out to retirees worried about inheritance tax. But anyone who wants to minimise their annual income tax, or use up their capital gains tax allowance efficiently, might also benefit from not spending a pension first.

Job switching, auto enrolment with every move, and people's tendency to lose pension information and not update schemes with contact details are all behind the rise in orphaned pots. The cost of living crisis has highlighted the importance of tracking down lost pensions to boost your eventual retirement income, according to an industry campaign to help people find them.

We decode some of the jargon, from the more commonplace to the exotic, that you might come across when exploring your pension options. It comes as research shows that while savers heartily welcomed pension freedoms launched in April 2015, they feel baffled and overwhelmed when dealing with the new choices opened up to over-55s of spending, saving and investing their retirement pot.

My wife is an executor of her uncle's will. He has an estate valued at approximately £500,000. He is leaving 70% to various charities and the remaining 30% to family. My wife was told that she may be liable for any tax the charities have to pay which I think is incorrect? Estate planning expert Ian Dyall replies.

My daughter, her partner, child and baby due this spring live with us as they cannot afford to rent or buy somewhere. They have been with us for five-plus years. What arrangements can we make when one of us dies as there will not be enough money to maintain the house? In our will our daughter inherits the house with her two stepbrothers who are both in their 50s. She is in her early 30s. Lawyer Rachel Waller tackles the issue.