The Department for Work and Pensions has issued an update over a bitter State Pension age change battle with campaigners. WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) is seeking redress for everyone who was caught out by the shake-up in the system.
The group is calling for a one-off compensation payment of between £11,666 and £20,000 for all those affected by the DWP's failure to give women enough warning that the State Pension age was going up from 60 to 66.
A change to the national pension age for women, legislated for in 1995, wasn't communicated to most of those affected until 2012, leading the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to find the DWP guilty of maladministration. It said that "the opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost."
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As reported by Birmingham Live, Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussion her Department has had with the ombudsman and when they plan to publish the stage two report on complaints about its notification of the changes.
Pensions Minister Guy Opperman responded by saying: "State Pension age issues have been debated extensively in the House over many years, and subsequently litigated in the highest courts in the land. The PHSO Ombudsman’s investigation into communication of changes to women's State Pension is ongoing; section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations 'shall be conducted in private.'
"It would be inappropriate to discuss these issues whilst the PHSO Ombudsman's investigation is ongoing. This is the approach of successive governments to such matters."
This is a fresh blow to WASPI representatives who have been trying to meet Mr Opperman since the PHSO confirmed last year that 1950s-born women were victims of maladministration by the DWP.
The ombudsman explained that after finding maladministration: "We then move to the second stage and consider whether it led to an injustice for the complainant. At the second stage, we would also consider the complaints about DWP not adequately communicating the required number of years of national insurance contributions to receive a full state pension, as well as DWP’s and ICE’s complaint handling.
"If we find there was an injustice that has not already been remedied then we will proceed to the third stage and make recommendations to put things right."
WASPI is urging DWP to set out compensation plans ahead of the final stages of the ombudsman's investigation, as many of the women are approaching their retirement in a state of financial hardship exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.
Campaigners say their research indicates that by the end of this year 220,000 affected women will have already died during the lengthy wait for compensation. The error impacted around 3.6 million women who were born on or after April 6, 1950.
WASPI Chair and Finance Director Angela Madden said: "We are grateful for MPs such as Kerry McCarthy’s continued support for the WASPI campaign. Our members are understandably getting frustrated by Opperman’s stubborn refusal to engage with the issue and are beginning to conclude that the Government is just choosing to ignore the issue rather than rectify it when they can.
"The ombudsman has already been found guilty by the DWP of maladministration of the communication of changes to women's State Pension age. Despite this, the Government is refusing to meet with campaigners to agree on fair and fast compensation."
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman told BirminghamLive it will be making recommendations to the DWP but has no power to force it to put up pension amounts or pay back the money the women would have received had the retirement age not gone up.
It said: "Many complainants have told us they are seeking reinstatement of their State Pension, the State Pension age to revert to 60, and/or compensation for the amount of State Pension they would have received had their State Pension age not changed.
"The 2019 High Court decision underlined that we are not able to recommend DWP reimburse 'lost' pensions. We also can't recommend that anyone receive their State Pension any earlier than the law allows. To do so would reverse or try to reverse primary legislation."
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