New call for DWP compensation for WASPI women affected by changes to State Pension age

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The final report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) on its independent investigation into changes made to the State Pension age is expected to be published early this year.

However, Labour MP Alistair Strathern, has asked the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if any recent assessment of the “potential merits of compensating women born in the 1950s affected by changes to State Pension age legislation” has been made.

In a written response, earlier this week, DWP Pensions Minister Paul Maynard MP said: “The Ombudsman is considering this matter, he has not completed his final report and has yet to make any recommendations.

When the report is complete the Government will carefully consider it.” He added: “It would not be appropriate to comment on the investigation and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations ‘shall be conducted in private’.” In July 2021, the PHSO’s Stage 1 investigation ruled that the DWP failed to communicate the age changes to those women with enough urgency, finding it guilty of ‘maladministration’.