Thousands of UK women owed pension payout after ombudsman’s Waspi ruling

Thousands of women are owed compensation because of government failings related to the way changes to the state pension age were made, a long-awaited official report has said.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said those affected were owed compensation but added that that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had clearly indicated it would “refuse to comply”, which was “unacceptable”.

Campaigners say close to 4 million women had their retirement plans “plunged into chaos”, leaving many thousands of pounds out of pocket, after the DWP increased the state pension age from 60 to 65, and then to 66.

The ombudsman has been investigating the matter for years, and in an initial report in July 2021, it found the DWP guilty of maladministration in its handling of the changes. This related to specific failings dating back to 2005 and 2006.

Campaigners for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group, which was formed in 2015, have called for the ombudsman to recommend that compensation of £10,000 or more is paid to those affected. However, the report indicates amounts of between £1,000 and £2,950.

The group has said hundreds of thousands of women did not have enough time to make alternative plans, and that some had had to sell their homes, go without essentials or rely on their own elderly parents because of the way the changes were made and communicated. Some have claimed the changes would leave them tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

More details to follow…