The £70 refund letter that isn't a scam

You may be among the one million people, mostly women, who will receive letters explaining how you are eligible for top-up pension payments - and it's not a scam.

Those entitled are low earners who have missed out on the money because of the way their pension is administered.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will write to people over the next few months, explaining how to receive the payment. Typically they will be due £70, but that may vary considerably depending on their circumstances.

Anyone eligible will be contacted automatically but, if you receive a letter, there are various checks you can do to ensure the letter is genuine so you don't get hoodwinked.

When you pay into a pension, the government allows some of the money that would otherwise have been paid in tax to go towards your pension instead. This is known as tax relief , external .

For relatively complicated reasons, some low earners whose employer used what's known as a Net Pay Arrangement pension scheme received less than those whose pension was administered through a Relief at Source scheme.

Employees have no control over the type of scheme that's used, so the government has decided to top up those who have missed out, through what's called a low earner's pension payment.

Typically, they would have earned close to, but not more than, £12,570 a year (the starting point for paying income tax).