Waiting for WASPI pension justice

THE investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) into changes in the state pension age should conclude in early 2023.

This final report focuses on injustices produced by the “maladministration” of changes to the state pension age. Its recommendations to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will apply to “everyone” who has been affected by them, the PHSO announced.

That includes financial redress, which could see 3.6 million women who were born in the 1950s receive compensation.

The PHSO investigation began in 2018, but a legal challenge funded by thousands of women from Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) into the findings of Second Stage of the report on Injustices caused further delays after the Ombudsman agreed to review its decision.

“We have now looked at our findings and shared our provisional views about injustice resulting from the maladministration we identified during stage one, and our thinking about remedy, with complainants, their referring MPs and the DWP,” the PHSO said.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, the PHSO’s chief executive, explained to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) in November 2023 that the provisional Stage Two and Stage Three findings had been sent in confidence to the UK government and around 500 women who made a complaint.

The final report will be made public once feedback has been received and the PHSO has made any necessary changes.  The deadline for responses was around Christmastime and the final report should be published shortly, assuming that there are no more amendments to be made.