DWP WASPI state pension offset ‘too low’, MPs said

Compensation levels suggested for women affected by the way state pension changes were communicated are “on the low side”, a panel of MPs has said. The Work and Pensions Committee heard evidence following a report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in March.

Angela Madden, chair of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign, told the committee: “We are pleased with the report, it has identified that there was maladministration: a big deal for us. It is identified that there should be compensations: big tick for us.

“He also tabled the report before Parliament, which we are very pleased with because we feel that Parliament is the right place for this decision to be taken. The level suggested in the report, we think is on the low side.”

The ombudsman’s report suggested that level four compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 could be appropriate for each of those affected.

Asked whether she believed the Department for Work and Pensions would accept the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration, Jane Cowley, campaign director for the group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi), told the Work and Pensions Committee: “I think the PSHO (Parliamentary Ombudsman and Health Service) has indicated that it considers this unlikely.

“I think that’s probably our point of view as well. I mean we only had a statement in Parliament saying they would consider the report. The DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) has had the draft report for some time.

“They have, again, taken quite a long time to consider the report once it has been published and it seems to us that they are playing for time and hoping to throw it into the long grass.”

Asked how important an apology was and who should make one, Waspi chair Angela Madden told the Work and Pensions Committee: “I think every party had a hand in what happened here.

“It started in 1995. There were at least 10 pensions ministers while we ran this campaign and I think the apology has to come from the Department for Work and Pensions in general.

“So I think the apology from the current administration is going to be pretty important. It must be genuine. We have to admit that we have endured seven years of denial from the DWP now about something that was not our fault. They should not criticize women for making decisions without correct information.”

The report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that some women born in the 1950s were not adequately informed about the impact of the changes. For more than 60 years, men received their state pension at 65, while the threshold was 60 for women, despite concerns that the move was unfair because of women’s longer life expectancy.

Moves to equalize the problem began with the Pensions Act 1995, with the age for women rising to 65 between 2010 and 2020. But it was accelerated in 2010 to reduce overall pension costs, with the new state pension age being anticipated by 2018. The ombudsman’s report ruled that millions of women in the UK were not being provided with accurate and timely information.

A DWP spokesman previously 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 have delivered a further 8.5% rise this month, increasing the State Pension for 12 million pensioners. So the full rate of the new state pension has increased by £900.”

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