Millions of women not informed on pensions

MILLIONS of women were not told about changes to their state pensions in time, an official inquiry has found.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is investigating the issue of how the government informed women born in the 1950s of a rise in pension age.

It revealed that many women were not told that the age would rise from 60 to 66 in time to make other arrangements to secure financial stability in later years.

Some were forced to stay in work or fell into poverty, spending their life savings.

The issue is at the heart of a campaign led by Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi).

About 3.8 million women are affected.

A leaked ombudsman report said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) did not act quickly enough in 2004.

At the time, it found its information campaign to reach more of the older women was not working as well as it could be.

The DWP then waited until 2007 to send these women letters telling them of the pension changes.

Until recently, women could expect to claim their state pension five years earlier than men, at 60, but this has all changed.

In 1995, the government raised the pension age to 65, the same age as men.

But it gave women a 15-year reprieve, and then, from 2010, began to start raising the age gradually.

In 2011, the government sped up the process – and dropped a bombshell on women born in 1953-4, who suddenly learnt they would have to wait longer than expected to retire.

This meant women born before April 6, 1950 still could retire at 60, but women born later would have to wait longer, in increments, and those born in the mid-1950s have had to wait until their 65th birthday to claim the state pension.

More generally, some women close to retirement are angry because they do not feel they were properly informed in the first place.

In September last year, the Back to 60 campaign, a Waspi alternative, lost a case in the Court of Appeal that the rises were unlawful discrimination or a breach of human rights.

Back to 60 vowed to take the fight to the Supreme Court, but this rejected the appeal in March, leaving the campaigners with few options for pensions reform. While the latest review has presented a glimmer of hope, there are no guarantees yet that older women will get any extra state pension.

The question is whether the ombudsman findings mean there is any further review of the situation.

Rebecca O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at Interactive Investor, said: “I wouldn’t want to give any false hope to these women – they have suffered enough.

“What isn’t clear is whether this changes the outcome for them in any way.”

The ombudsman has been approached for comment.