New calls for State Pension age public inquiry for 1950s-born women affected by DWP changes
A new online petition is calling for a public inquiry to be held into changes made to the State Pension age for women born in the 1950s, despite the findings of an independent investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) published earlier this year. The Ombudsman’s final report, published on March 21, stated that “Parliament must urgently identify a mechanism for providing that appropriate remedy” and recommended compensation equivalent to level four on its banding scale, which is worth between £1,000 and £2,950.
However, petition creator Kay Clarke argues that a “public Inquiry is necessary to expose the truth” for millions of women who have been affected by State Pension age changes. The founding member of the WOW (1950s Women of Wales and beyond group) also believes the PHSO investigation did not take into account the “views of all campaigners” and wants to see other options explored which could have found a “ fair and balanced resolution”.
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The ‘Hold a Public Inquiry into the State Pension age change for 1950s women’ has been posted on the petitions-parliament website. It states: “We believe that women affected by these changes were given inadequate notice of a further wait of up to six years to receive the State Pension. We believe a Public Inquiry is necessary to expose the truth.
“We feel that the way in which this case has been handled has not taken into account the views of all campaigners. We believe there are other options to explore and by listening to all groups, we feel a fair and balanced resolution could have been found.”
At 10,000 signatures of support, the petition is entitled to a written response from the UK Government and at 100,000 the Petitions Committee would consider it for debate in Parliament. You can view it online here .
Last month, Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds confirmed that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been “considering the costs of setting up a compensation scheme” for women born in the 1950s affected by changes to their State Pension age.
In a written response to Steve Darling, the Liberal Democrat shadow work and pensions spokesperson on Tuesday, Ms Reynolds explained that as part of the DWP’s “work on the Ombudsman’s investigation and report” it had found that the PHSO’s estimate to compensate all women at level four - between around £3.5billion and £10.5 billion - did not take administrative costs into account.
The Pensions Minister said: “As part of our work on the Ombudsman’s investigation and report, we have been considering the costs of setting up a compensation scheme.
“The Ombudsman used DWP’s broad estimates in their report published 21 March 2024, stating that ‘Compensating all women born in the 1950s at the level 4 range would involve spending between around £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion of public funds’. This estimate excludes administration costs.”
Ms Reynolds added: “This government is giving its full and proper consideration to all areas of the Ombudsman's report.
“Once this work has been undertaken, we will be in a position to outline our approach.”
Mr Darling had asked DWP if it had “undertaken financial modelling for a potential compensation scheme for issues raised” in the PHSO’s final report.
