Two Scottish MPs have urged the UK Government not to make the same mistake with future State Pension age change communication that has been felt by millions of women born in the 1950s. Some 3.8 million women across Great Britain missed out on State Pension payments due to the change in retirement age from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and November 2018, which later increased to 66 for men and women in October 2020.
The 1995 Pensions Act increased the State Pension age for women from 60 to 65 in order to equalise the age with men, with the change to be phased in over 10 years from 2010 for women born between 1950 and 1955.
In July 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to communicate the changes with enough urgency, finding it guilty of maladministration, and is currently investigating the harm caused. The PHSO found that "the opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost”.
