A GOVERNMENT blunder means that hundreds, possibly thousands, of workers in York and North Yorkshire face a bill of up to £1,000 to secure a full state pension.

Ministers are to write to the ten million people affected by the mistake across the country in the next few weeks.

The bungle follows the Treasury's failure - for five successive years - to tell people that they must pay extra national insurance to get the full weekly pension of £77.45.

Nationally, about four million so-called "deficiency notices" are sent out every year to people who have worked - or earned - too little to qualify for a full pension.

But no letters were sent out for the tax years 1996/7 through to 2000/1. The mistake was only admitted last month, in a short statement on the Inland Revenue website.

It announced that the deadline for making voluntary contributions was being extended to April 2008.

The average annual "gap" in contributions is £198, which means that workers affected for the full five-year period will face a bill of almost £1,000.

Ryedale MP John Greenway blamed the "astonishing blunder" on officials, rather than Labour ministers.

But he said the Government was now faced with a tough political decision on whether to use public money to top up the funds of those hit by the error.

York MP Hugh Bayley, a former Pensions Minister, said he could not comment in detail until he had investigated the problem.

But he said: "If anyone in York faces this problem, and has difficulty making up their contributions, they should contact my office in York (01904 623713)."

An Inland Revenue spokesman said: "The letters that we will be sending out are not bills or demands for money.

"They will simply give people information about what is recorded on their NICs account so that they can either let us know if they think it is wrong, or make a payment if they choose to do so."

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, May 14, 2003