Fears DWP could fight ruling raised in WASPI £10,000 compensation case verdict

An expert has warned the Department for Work and Pensions could ‘fight’ any ruling from the ombudsman into a case involving millions of women who claim to have been badly disadvantaged by changes to pension age they were unaware of. A verdict on the case is thought to be released as soon as March or April.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), is looking into the way the pension age changes were introduced, Lancashire Live reports. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign argues the change was implemented in an unfair way with inadequate notice.

Nearly four million women, mostly born in the 1950s, had their retirement plans “plunged into chaos” at the last minute due to the DWP increasing the State Pension age, according to research carried out by the WASPI group. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has found that the Department for Work and Pensions was guilty of maladministration, and is currently investigating the harm caused.

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Money Week reported that the ombudsman was supposed to produce a draft report last year, but publication was delayed by a legal challenge by WASPI. Any recommendation is not legally binding, Money Week said, and it could potentially be rejected by the DWP. If it rejects them, the ombudsman could report to a parliamentary committee and ultimately there could be a parliamentary vote.

Steve Webb, partner at consultants LCP and a former pensions minister, told MoneyWeek: “The ombudsman’s role is to judge whether people lost out because of maladministration. He has been clear from the start of this process that he respects the rights of parliament to set state pension ages and cannot over-rule that power.

“Any recommendation therefore is likely to focus on potentially creating a very narrowly defined redress scheme which might apply only to those who were unaware of the changes to state pension ages at a time when the government should have done more to notify them and who lost out because of decisions taken in ignorance.

“Creating such a scheme would be incredibly challenging and it is likely the DWP would fight such a recommendation”. Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, says she hopes it “will not drag on much longer”. The baroness was repeatedly lobbied by Waspi during her stint as pensions minister in 2015 and 2016. Since leaving government she has spoken about the need to help women affected by the rapidly rising state pension age.

Altmann told MoneyWeek : “I had always hoped we could at least get help to the women who suffered hardship, those who made plans based on inadequate or misleading information and those who are caring for others with little or no income.

“I fear this would not be acceptable to the majority of those affected, but if the ombudsman does recommend widespread compensation for everyone, then I would be delighted. But as I am one of those women I would not wish to accept anything myself as I knew about it.”

The DWP said: “The government decided over 25 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women. Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.”

Earlier this month SNP Alan Brown used the 10-minute rule procedure in the Commons to introduce a Bill he said would require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for women affected. The PHSO (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) currently deciding what compensation should be offered, he said level 6 of its remedy scale bandings should be applied, with payouts of £10,000 or more.