Parliament has been asked to hold the Department for Work and Pensions to account over the matter (Picture: Getty)
Thousands of women should be paid compensation after a failure to inform them that the state pension age had changed, a report has found.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has asked Parliament to hold the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to account over the matter.
It has found the DWP failed to adequately inform thousands of women that the state pension age had changed.
‘The DWP has not acknowledged its failings nor put things right for those women affected’, it says.
PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said: ‘The UK’s national ombudsman has made a finding of failings by the Department for Work and Pensions in this case and has ruled that the women affected are owed compensation. DWP has clearly indicated that it will refuse to comply. This is unacceptable. The department must do the right thing and it must be held to account for failure to do so.
‘Complainants should not have to wait and see whether DWP will take action to rectify its failings. Given the significant concerns we have that it will fail to act on our findings and given the need to make things right for the affected women as soon as possible, we have proactively asked Parliament to intervene and hold the department to account.
‘Parliament now needs to act swiftly, and make sure a compensation scheme is established. We think this will provide women with the quickest route to remedy.’
Women born in the 1950s had to wait longer for their state pension when changes to the state pension age to equalise it across genders was accelerated in 2010.
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