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the government is Preparing to re-examine its decision of not paying compensation Changes to the state pension age affect 3.8 million women, after new evidence emerged.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden Informed the Commons that ministers would reconsider refusing compensation to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised to equal that of men.
He said “evidence” that had not been presented to his predecessor Liz Kendall since the decision was made last December had emerged.
Labor had previously faced criticism for rejecting compensation, despite a recommendation from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
PHSO had suggested this women Each should receive up to £2,950, equivalent to a potential total cost of £10.5 billion, after poor communication hindered their ability to adequately plan for retirement.
The new development comes after the Department of Works was re-discovered in 2007 following court proceedings pension (DWP) assessment. The document caused automated pension forecast letters to stop being sent.
Angela Madden, chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (shot), described the decision as “a major step forward”.
However, Mr McFadden cautioned that the reconsideration does not guarantee that ministers will ultimately award compensation,
He told MPs: “This decision should not be taken again as an indication that … Government It will essentially decide whether it should provide financial redress.”
“The work will start immediately and as soon as there is a conclusion, I will inform the House of the decision.”
Here’s everything you need to know:
Who are the Waspi women?
‘Waspi’ stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality, the name of a campaign group founded in 2015 to fight for compensation.
Its members claim that large numbers of women born in the 1950s were unfairly penalized economically due to miscommunication regarding the decision to raise women’s state pension age to equal that of men.
Many people say that they expected to get pension at the age of 60 and made financial plans on this basis. They argue that the increases to 65 and 66 happened without enough warning, leaving many people struggling with the cost of living.
Originally due to be phased out between 2010 and 2020 – in accordance with the 1995 Pensions Act – the state pension age was raised to 65 by November 2018 after it was accelerated by the coalition government in 2011. An increase of up to 66 occurred by October 2020.
One of the group’s main claims is based on the fact that the government did not write to any women affected by the increase for almost 14 years after the law was passed in 1995. It was not until 2009 and 2013 that the DWP sent letters regarding the relevant changes made in 1995 and 2011.
What did the PHSO recommend?
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) released the findings of its five-year investigation in March 2024. This was a devastating assessment of the DWP’s handling of this issue.
The Waspi Group’s claims of being poorly informed about the changes were partly upheld by the PHSO, with the report stating that “many people did not understand their situations and how the new state pension affected them personally”.
The report called the DWP’s failure to respond officially to the issue “maladministration”.
It also looked into the department’s complaint-handling process and found that “it did not adequately investigate or respond to complaints it was considering” – another mismanagement.
However, while the PHSO report acknowledged that poor communication from the DWP caused some women to lose “opportunities to make informed decisions”, it also made it clear that it did not believe it caused “direct financial loss”.
The ombudsman ultimately recommended that each woman should be compensated up to £2,950, a package that would have a potential total cost of £10.5 billion to the exchequer.
Why did the government refuse to compensate them?
The government said it accepted the Ombudsman’s findings of mismanagement and apologized for the 28-month delay in writing to women born in the 1950s.
But it says the evidence shows only one in four people remember receiving and reading letters they did not expect and that most women born in the 1950s were aware that the state pension age was changing.
The government said a sweeping compensation plan, which could cost taxpayers up to £10.5 billion, could not be justified.
It added that it would also be impossible to offer a fair, value for money and viable compensation scheme taking into account individual circumstances.
In a statement, Ms Kendall said: “These two facts: that most women knew that the state pension age was rising and that letters are not as important as the ombudsman says, plus other reasons, have informed our conclusion, in response to the ombudsman’s report, that there should be no scheme of financial compensation for women born in the 1950s.”