The government needs time to properly consider the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's (PHSO) report on how changes to the women's state pension age (SPA) were communicated, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, has said.

The PHSO's report found that "thousands" of women may have been affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) failure to adequately inform them that the SPA had changed, concluding that DWP’s handling of the changes meant some women lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances.

In a statement in the House of Commons yesterday (25 March), Stride provided an interim update on the government’s response to the PHSO investigation, confirming that the government will “fully and properly consider the findings and the details” of the report.

However, he also emphasised the underlying complexity behind this report, arguing that "it is only right and proper, given that the report was published on Thursday and today is Monday, for all of us to have time to properly consider its findings."

He stated: “I am grateful to the ombudsman for conducting this investigation. I recognise the strength of feeling there is on this issue and it is important to set out the wider context and our initial understanding of the report itself.

“The fact it has taken over five years for the ombudsman to produce the final report reflects the complexity of this matter.”

Stride also clarified some of the points from the ombudsman’s report, in light of “some of the inaccurate and misleading commentary since the report was published”.

In particular, Stride emphasised that the ombudsman has not looked at the decision to equalise the SPA, but rather at how that decision was communicated by DWP.

He also pointed out that ombudsman has not found that women have directly lost out financially as a result of DWP’s actions, with the report stating, “we do not find that it [meaning DWP's communication] resulted in them [referring to the complainants] suffering direct financial loss”.

“And the final report has not said that all women born in the 1950s will have been adversely impacted as many women were aware their state pension age had changed,” he added.

However, Stride stressed that the government will continue to "engage fully and constructively" with parliament to address the issues raised, after PHSO took the "rare decision" to presented its final report directly to parliament, after its investigation found reason to believe that DWP will not take steps to put things right.

He stated: “We continue to take the work of the ombudsman very seriously, and it is only right that we now fully and properly consider the findings and the details of what is a substantial document.

“The ombudsman has noted in his report the challenges and the complexities of this issue. In laying the report before parliament the ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of the House, and we will provide a further update to the house once we have considered the report's findings.

“I note the ombudsman has laid his final report before parliament on this issue. Of course, I can assure the house, the government will continue to engage fully and constructively with parliament, as we have done with the ombudsman."

However, Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) chair, Angela Madden, argued that further delays should be avoided, calling for a debate and vote on compensation "as soon as possible after Easter".

She stated: “The Secretary of State now says this matter is so complex, he needs yet more months and years of head scratching to sort it out.

"He has made much of the report being 100 pages long as if he were being asked to digest War and Peace.

“The fact it is has taken five years for the ombudsman to produce his conclusions is a pretty perverse reason to say more delay is now justified.

“The report is not complicated at all. He says that 1950s-born women should be compensated and that parliament should intervene to make a scheme happen.

"The Commons must get a debate and vote on compensation as soon as possible after Easter.”

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