Thousands of women who lost out due to state pension age changes are owed compensation, a watchdog has ruled.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to tell women about the changes properly, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said.
The ombudsman has asked Parliament to step in and “act quickly” to set up a compensation scheme. The DWP has not admitted it did anything wrong or put things right for the women affected, the ombudsman said.
Read more: Sheffield bans adverts for unhealthy food, pollution and alcohol in city
Its investigation found that thousands of women may have been affected by DWP’s failure to adequately inform them that the state pension age had changed.
PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said: “The UK’s national ombudsman has made a finding of failings by DWP in this case, and has ruled that the women affected are owed compensation.”
“DWP has clearly indicated that it will refuse to comply. This is unacceptable. The department must do the right thing and it must be held to account for failure to do so.”
“Complainants should not have to wait and see whether DWP will take action to rectify its failings.”
“Given the significant concerns we have that it will fail to act on our findings, and given the need to make things right for the affected women as soon as possible, we have proactively asked Parliament to intervene and hold the department to account.”
“Parliament now needs to act swiftly, and make sure a compensation scheme is established. We think this will provide women with the quickest route to remedy.”
The 1995 Pensions Act and later laws changed the state pension age for women born on or after 6 April 1950.
The ombudsman looked into complaints that the DWP didn’t give good information about changes to the state pension since 1995.
In July 2021, the ombudsman published part one of its investigation. It found the DWP didn’t do a good job telling women about the new state pension age.
Because of how the DWP handled the pension age changes, some women missed chances to plan their money better. They felt less in control of their finances and lives, said the ombudsman.
The ombudsman said the DWP should say sorry and pay money to those affected because it didn’t do things right.
It also said it got lots of complaints about how the DWP told people about different changes to pensions, and worries about telling people about the new pension age is just one problem.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
YorkshireLive
