Ombudsman findings give women hope

BATTLING “WASPI campaign” women are hoping to get compensation after the ombudsman said they were not properly told about changes to the age when they would get their state pension.

Many women born in the 1950s have argued the way the equalisation of the state pension age between men and women was brought in was unfair and they did not find out until it was too late to do anything about it.

Yesterday, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) issued an interim report saying it had found failings in the way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) communicated changes to women’s state pension age.

In Llanelli, the town’s WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign group gave a qualified welcome to the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and said they would be working for a fair and fast solution.

The ombudsman ruled that the DWP was guilty of maladministration from 2004 onwards when it failed to contact 1950s born women in person to inform them of the changes to their State Pension Age – even after its own research revealed that the majority of women did not know their State Pension Age had changed, despite a publicity campaign.

“We are very pleased that, after a long and thorough investigation, the ombudsman has found that maladministration took place when we were not properly notified of the changes to our State Pension Age,” said Jane Jones from Llanelli Women Against State Pension Injustice.

“This is a very welcome step in the right direction. We hope the ombudsman will now complete the next stage and decide that an injustice has taken place that deserves compensation.

“The Government will then have a moral duty to put things right.”

The ombudsman’s final ruling will apply to all 1950s born women affected by the changes, not just those who have lodged a complaint.

The aim of the WASPI Campaign 2018 is to achieve fair transitional state pension arrangements and recompense for all women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the state pension law (1995/2011 Acts).

In 1995, the Government introduced a gradual increase of the State Pension Age from 60 to 65 for women but did not notify them.

Another change in 2011 accelerated the rise to 65 and increased it to 66 for both men and women by 2020.

Some women were written to in 2009, 14 years after the first change, but letters were then stopped until 2012.