Pension and divorce consultancy Divorce LifeLine claims that as many as half of all divorce settlements in the UK since December 2000 may have had the pension undervalued when a settlement was reached.

It believes that around 750,000 people may have been affected and will be entitled to claim thousands of pounds from lawyers.

Divorce Lifeline founding partner Tony Derbyshire said: “As pensions are such complex financial assets, calculating the true value of a pension in a divorce settlement is difficult.

“It is easy undervalue the pension without the expert advice of an actuary or independent financial advisor (IFA) and it seems most divorce lawyers have failed to seek this advice.

“The information that we have obtained reveals cause for concern. In the vast majority of the cases we have seen so far this year, the divorce solicitors should have had the pension valued by a professional such as an actuary or an independent financial advisor, as part of the divorce settlement process, but they did not.”