When the BBC’s estimable Moneybox programme last weekend broadcast details of how people could boost their state pension in certain circumstances, many listeners decided to follow its advice straight away.

They called the Department for Work & Pensions or HMRC to put matters in train, only to be told in some cases that the programme had got it wrong and that the state pension top-ups that they were seeking were not actually available to them.

You might think that if it comes to a tussle between government departments and a broadcaster about the detail of the state pension, the official bodies must be right.

But no. As the show’s presenter, Paul Lewis, pointed out, the provenance of his facts was unimpeachable: they came from the very person who had designed and implemented the legislation concerned, Steve Webb, the former pensions minister.

So it was the Pensions Department and the taxman who had their facts wrong, not Mr Lewis.

We can only hope that confused listeners will persevere in their attempts to claim what they are entitled to and not be put off by official muddle-headedness.

But what does this story tell us about the state of our pensions system? Surely that it is vastly too complicated for any normal person, whether taxpayer or government employee, to understand.