Thousands of women could be missingfrom their due to a "common" workplace error.

According to a report from , pension mistakes have been made while workers have been on, and a large number of women have seen major discrepancies in their workplace pensions. Under the rules, when someone goes on maternity leave, their employer should continue to make pension contributions based on their full salary.

However, women have reported that their contributions were wrongly changed to match their lower maternity leave income. Some, have reported missing pension payments ranging from hundreds of pounds to £4,000. According to the advocacy group Nugget Savings, more than 100 out of 236 workers surveyed said they experienced errors regarding their pension contributions during maternity leave.

Th group said it was not "clear" how widespread the issue was, but feared that they had only "scratched the surface". Katie Guild, co-founder of Nugget Savings, said: "We're concerned we have just scratched the surface of this issue. This error could have started as far back as auto-enrolment in 2012, therefore affecting potentially millions of women."

Have you been affected or found discrepancies with your pension payments on maternity leave? let us know by emailing: Mirror.money.saving@reachplc.com

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Around half a million people in the UK take maternity leave each year, and it usually consists of 26 weeks' worth of ordinary leave plus another 26 weeks of additional. Usually, you pay a minimum of 5% of your salary into your workplace pensions; your employer pays a minimum of 3%, although it can match it - some can even pay more.

So, for example, if a woman pays £200 of her paycheque into her pension pot each month, if her employer matches this, they also pay £200. This means £400 should be put into the pension pot each month. While on maternity leave, the woman's pay drops and now she pays £100 into her pension pot because the percentage is based on her actual pay received. However, her employer should continue to pay the full £200 as if she had not taken the leave. This means £300 goes into her pension each month. However, some employers have dropped their contributions to match the lower level the woman is putting in, meaning she is receiving hundreds of pounds less than she normally would.

Although a few hundred pounds does not seem like too much, in terms of pensions, the loss means someone could miss out on the chance to earn compound interest over the following decades, potentially losing thousands on their final pot. As women are affected by this issue, it only exacerbates the existing gender pension gap, which sees the average woman retire with a pension pot 55% smaller than the average man's.

Katie said: "Some were successful in recouping their lost pension contributions. Others faced resistance from their employers who said too much time had passed to fix the error, or the employers still believed that they had contributed correctly to their ."

Sky News spoke to numerous women who had been affected by the issue. One discovered that £ 4,000 was missing from her pot, although the amount was eventually repaid. Another woman found £717 missing from her retirement savings, and after flagging with her employer, she claims they were not apologetic as they expected the software to calculate it automatically. Another mum-of-two found £1,400 missing and had to get her union involved to recover the money. Sadly, some women have not managed to have the missing cash repaid, and many others may not even be aware that they have a shortfall.

Harriet Morton-Liddle, co-founder of Nugget Savings, said the organisation had tried to discover why advice on pension contributions during maternity leave was not more clear. She said: "We contacted HMRC, The Pensions Regulator and Citizens Advice and even submitted Freedom of Information requests but still had no straight answer regarding the correct procedure that should be followed for employers or employees."

She noted that much of the online advice was "contradictory", which meant that many employers might not even realise that they are making mistakes. She added: "We want to raise awareness for the women across the UK who could be impacted but might not even realise it yet, so they can rightfully claim back money that belongs in their pension pots."

To see if you have been affected, you will need to check with your workplace pension provider. Normally, you will have an online portal for your pension pot. Your pension provider should also send you an annual statement, outlining how much you and your employer have both contributed. Check the amounts paid by your employer both before and after you took maternity leave to see whether they have changed. If they have decreased, you may have been underpaid.

Catherine Nicholson, interim director of automatic enrolment, told the news outlet: "Some employers are making common errors by skipping important steps in respect of calculating pensions contributions and communications to staff. These errors include miscalculating contributions for staff receiving maternity pay."

The Pension Ombudsman told Sky News that it did not have specific figures related to mis-paid pensions while on maternity leave, but said: "We have not seen an increase in complaints stemming from this issue."

It added: "All occupational pension schemes must operate an IDRP [Internal Dispute Resolution Process] If they remain unhappy with the response after the IDRP process they are able to submit a complaint to TPO, we act impartially, and our service is free."

READ MORE: