The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for State Pension Inequality for Women has urged the Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) to launch an inquiry into the government’s response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) report on historic state pension changes.

The PHSO launched an investigation to examine whether 1950s-born women suffered injustice because of maladministration in the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) communication of state pension age (SPA) changes in 2018.

Last year, following the outcome of the report, the government accepted that there was maladministration concerning how it communicated changes to women's SPA, although it rejected the PHSO’s proposed remedy.

The government then confirmed that no financial compensation would be paid to 1950s-born women.

The APPG also asked the WPC to evaluate whether the basis for the government's decision not to provide financial redress to women impacted by the identified DWP maladministration was justified.

Specifically, the APPG highlighted the statistics mentioned by the PHSO about the awareness of women regarding the issue, as well as how correspondence is interpreted and retained.

In its investigation, the PHSO found that DWP provided adequate and accurate information between 1995 and 2004, and that DWP decision-making between 2005 and 2007 led to a 28-month delay in starting to send letters to 1950s-born women about SPA changes.

In addition to this, the group called for an investigation into what options for financial redress have been considered and cost by the DWP in the process of making this decision, and whether more options are available for consideration.

It also asked for the WPC to subsequently publish a response on the government’s response to the PHSO report.

“As you can imagine many of those women who have suffered this injustice are simply devastated and perplexed by the government’s response,” APPG for State Pension Inequality for Women co-chairs, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Bryn Davies, said.

“We are therefore writing to kindly request that you consider opening an inquiry or holding a one-off session into the government’s response.

“While we appreciate that the committee has no legal powers to compel the government to act in a particular way, we note that historically the committee has played a role in scrutinising government responses to such reports from the PHSO.

“It is gravely concerning that without such scrutiny in this instance, a precedent may be set by this case where the government rejects the PHSO’s independent review and central recommendations without further challenge and discussion.”

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