“Thousands” of women may have been affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) failure to adequately inform them that the state pension age (SPA) had changed, an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found.

In a "rare decision", the PHSO presented its final report on how changes to the women's SPA were communicated directly to parliament, after its investigation found reason to believe that DWP will not take steps to put things right.

The investigation looked into complaints that the DWP failed to provide accurate, adequate and timely information about areas of state pension reform, after the 1995 Pensions Act and subsequent legislation raised the SPA for women born on or after 6 April 1950.

This followed the PHSO's stage one report in July 2021, which found that there were failings in the way DWP communicated changes to women's state pension age.

The latest report combined stages two and three of the PHSO's investigation, after the ombudsman previously agreed to look again at its stage two report, to consider both the injustice resulting from the maladministration identified during stage one and best route to a remedy.

In particular, the report found that DWP’s handling of the changes meant some women lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances, also diminishing their sense of personal autonomy and financial control.

In addition to this, the PHSO concluded that failings in DWP’s complaint handling caused unnecessary stress and anxiety, with a "missed opportunity" to reduce complainants’ distress.

In the report, the PHSO said that the DWP has not acknowledged its failings nor put things right for those women affected, and that DWP has also failed to offer any apology or explanation for its failings and has indicated it will not compensate women affected by its failure.

According to the PHSO, the DWP said that it would not be able to provide a remedy, including compensation, due to the cost involved, the time it would take, the amount of resource it would involve, and the negative impact delivering a remedy would have on it being able to maintain other services.

It also said that providing remedy would be inconsistent with good administration or guidance published by HM Treasury, and that using taxpayer funds to pay compensation for the consequences of the maladministration would likely need parliamentary and Treasury approval and, potentially, primary legislation.

Whilst the PHSO has no legal powers to make organisations act on its recommendations, it can present a report to parliament so it can act to protect citizens’ rights, as it has chosen to do in this case in light of the DWP's comments during the investigation.

"Given the significant concerns we have that DWP will fail to remedy the injustice, the most expedient thing we can do is to move immediately to bringing matters to parliament’s attention," the report stated.

"This is a rare decision, but we consider it necessary in the circumstances. It would be unsatisfactory and artificial for complainants to have to ‘wait and see’ whether DWP will act on our findings and then almost certainly experience further delay if it does not.

"We are therefore asking parliament to intervene and identify a mechanism for providing appropriate remedy. We consider this approach to be in the complainants’ best interests. It is, of course, open to DWP to forestall this process by acting on what we say to parliament."

PHSO chief executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath, commented: “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.”  

Commenting in response, a DWP spokesperson said: “We will consider the ombudsman’s report and respond in due course, having cooperated fully throughout this investigation.

“The government has always been committed to supporting all pensioners in a sustainable way that gives them a dignified retirement whilst also being fair to them and taxpayers.

“The state pension is the foundation of income in retirement and will remain so as we deliver a further 8.5 per cent rise in April which will increase the state pension for 12 million pensioners by £900.”

Reacting to the report, Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) chair, Angela Madden, said: “The DWP’s refusal to accept the clear conclusions of this five-year long investigation is simply unbelievable. One of the affected women is dying every 13 minutes, and we just cannot afford to wait any longer.

“Now that the PHSO findings have at last been published, all parties owe it to the women affected to make a clear and unambiguous commitment to compensation. The ombudsman has put the ball firmly in parliament’s court, and it is now for MPs to do justice to all the 3.6m women affected.

“The report at least finds that level four compensation is required, but politicians across party lines have previously supported level six – which would far more clearly and reasonably recognises the injustice and loss of opportunities suffered.

“We are now looking to those who have supported us over the years to put their money with their mouth is and back us on a proper compensation package.

"All the parties are now in the spotlight with WASPI women watching and waiting to see how they should best use their votes in the coming general election.”

The PHSO confirmed that it has now completed its investigation on this issue and will not accept any further complaints on this issue.

However, the ombudsman revealed that it has also received a series of complaints relating to how well DWP has communicated a variety of other state pension reforms, with concerns about communication of changes to the SPA only one such area of complaint.

A report from the ombudsman is expected later in the year to outline these broader issues.

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