The DWP boss will have questions about state pension age compensation for WASPI women

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride MP is to face an accountability session with the Work and Pensions Committee this week. The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday 22 May at 9.25am, will review the work of his Department as well as recent UK Government announcements and policy developments.

The head of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), along with permanent secretary Peter Schofield, is likely to be quizzed on the UK government’s approach to welfare reform. These include the latest plans to change how eligibility for the health aspect of Universal Credit is assessed, the timetable for further migration from legacy claimants and the recently published ‘Fraud and Error’ report.

The commission may also raise issues they have recently contacted the DWP about, such as the department’s efforts to tackle carer’s allowance overpayments and the UK government’s response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) report on changes to the age of women’s state pension. Discussion on the subject is likely to include questions about a compensation plan for the estimated 3.8 million women affected by the changes to the state pension age.

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Sir Stephen Timms, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, wrote to Mel Stride last week following an oral evidence session on 7 May with the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign (WASPI) and PHSO on their final report on changes. made at state pension age for women born in the 1950s, the Daily Record reports.

The PHSO concluded its six-year investigation with a final report published on March 21, which says the DWP failed to adequately communicate changes to women’s state pension age and those affected are being compensated. The ombudsman called on Parliament to “act swiftly” to establish a compensation scheme based on these findings.

In his letter, the Labor MP urged the UK government to “bring forward remedial proposals by the summer recess”.

Parliament is scheduled to adjourn for the summer on July 23.

The letter says: “As you know, the PHSO tabled its report before Parliament on 21 March 2024, asking Parliament to ‘identify an appropriate mechanism to provide remedies’ to women born in the 1950s who have suffered injustice due to DWP mismanagement within its framework. communication of State Pension Age (SPA) increases under the Pensions Act 1995.”

“In a one-off hearing on the issue on May 7, we were reminded of the need for urgent action, given that the ombudsman began looking at the issue in 2018 and that every 13 minutes a woman born in the 1950s.”

The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) has suggested compensation at level 4 on its scale, which ranges from £1,000 to £2,950. However, the WASPI campaign and some MPs, including the SNP’s Alan Brown, are pushing for maximum Level 6 compensation starting at £10,000.

East Ham MP Stephen Timms noted that the committee “did not seek to question PHSO’s proposal for level 4 compensation, but focused on what a remedy might look like”.

Sir Stephen explained: “The evidence we received indicated support for a rules-based system. This would be a system where payments would be adjusted within a range (based on the severity of the PHSO injustice) to reflect the extent of the change in the individual’s circumstances. state pension age and the notice of change the person received.”

He added: “This would mean that the less notice you had of the change and the bigger the change in your SPA, the bigger the payment you would get. Although not perfect, the advantages of such a system are that it would be: Fast. to administer; applying known data to a formula to determine the amount owed and relatively cheap.”

The letter also called for some leeway for individuals to make their case for additional compensation after receiving the initial payment determined by the rules-based system, particularly if they have suffered direct financial loss and justify a level of compensation higher.

The letter pointed to testimony from WASPI campaign chair Angela Madden, saying her previous statements to the committee noted that lower divorce settlements were awarded to women because of the 60-year retirement age provision.

The same letter said: “Implementing a remedy will require parliamentary time, financial resources and the data and technical systems available only to your department. It cannot happen without government support. Please submit proposals for a fix. remedy until the summer vacation”.

Speaking about this correspondence, Sir Stephen said: “The debate over the impact of the DWP’s failure to communicate State Women’s Pension Age increases has gone on for too long and it is time the Government took action to address the issue.

“There is no perfect solution, but there would appear to be broad support for a rules-based compensation system with a degree of flexibility for cases where women have suffered direct financial loss. While the ombudsman put the matter in the hands of the Parliament. , a remedy can only happen with the support of the government and we hope that ministers will move quickly to present their proposal before the summer.”

Adding her view on the action taken by the committee, Ms Madden said: “Pensions thinkers in parliament have spoken. Now is the time for the Government to act and give the floor to the common people as a whole. The Commission is right to suggest that there must be additional compensation for those many hundreds of thousands who have suffered direct financial loss, in addition to a lump sum for all those affected by the failures of successive governments.

“After years of campaigning, both the independent ombudsman and now a cross-party group of senior MPs have vindicated our position. For ministers to leave a moment longer to institute a compensation scheme is only delaying the inevitable and insulting our generation of women again. The WASPI campaign estimates that around 3.8 million women have been affected by changes to the state pension age.

A DWP spokesman said: “We are considering the ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course, having co-operated fully throughout this investigation.”

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

“The State Pension is the bedrock of retirement income and will remain so as we delivered another 8.5% rise last month, increasing the State Pension for 12 million pensioners. This has resulted in the full rate of the new state pension rising by pounds. 900.”