WASPI women 'owed compensation' over botched change to pensions

The UK’s national Ombudsman has found women affected by the mishandling of changes to their State Pension age are owed compensation.

An investigation found that thousands of women may have been affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ failure to adequately inform them that the retirement age had changed.

A report found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) handling of the changes meant some women lost the chance to prepare and “diminished their sense of personal autonomy and financial control”.

Women born in the 1950s were told they would have to wait longer for their state pension when changes to the state pension age to equalise it across genders were accelerated in 2010.

The Ombudsman recommended the affected women are paid £1,000 to £2,950 in compensation for the injustice they suffered.

The report said it would cost as much as £10bn to compensate all women in born in the 1950s.

The ombudsman has been investigating the issue for five years with the first stage, published in 2021, saying the Government was slow in informing women how they would be affected by the change.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated complaints that, since 1995, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has failed to provide accurate, adequate and timely information about areas of State Pension reform.

“To date, DWP has not acknowledged its failings nor put things right for those women affected,” the ombudsman report said.

“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.”

Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) say millions have lost out due to the change and campaigned for compensation after retirement plans were harmed by the change.

“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,” PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said.

“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.”

The pension age for both men and women is set to rise again from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028.