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Despite damning reports of government failures, many women affected by changes to the state pension age will still miss out on compensation, experts have warned.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said the Waspi women were in debt and suggested they pay up to £2,950 in compensation.
The watchdog said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had not properly informed women born in the 1950s that the state pension age would be raised from 60 to 65, and then to 66. It turned out that
However, the DWP still refuses to accept the Ombudsman’s findings and the government has yet to commit to providing compensation.
PHSO condemned the DWP’s stance as “unacceptable” and said it was up to Parliament to vote on a compensation scheme to provide “relief” to affected women. Compensating all 3.6 million affected women with £2,950 would cost the government up to £10.5 billion, the ombudsman said.
But this is far short of the amount demanded by Waspi (Women Against Inequalities in State Pensions) campaign group, which is calling for at least £10,000 per person.
Pension experts warned that covering all women at these levels would be too expensive.
“It will be disappointing,” said former pensions minister Baroness Ross Altman.
“This report does not believe that large sums of money will be available to anyone. There should be a system, but I don’t believe it will pay out to all victims. That is now up to Parliament. ”
The Conservative MP said the Ombudsman’s report was “terrible” but the lack of a firm recommendation from PHSO for comprehensive compensation meant parliament could only approve “plans to claim compensation on a case-by-case basis”. Said to mean that.
She believed that the recommended maximum payment of £2,950 meant Wapsi women who ultimately received compensation were likely to receive less than £10,000.
The Ombudsman’s report said it recommended Level 4 compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 to reflect a “serious and/or persistent injustice”, based on a test group of six claimant cases. Ta.
PHSO stopped short of recommending a specific compensation scheme to MPs, but said parliament could consider “mechanisms to assess individual claims of injustice”.
“Alternatively, they may recognize that it is inevitable that some women will be paid more or less compensation than they otherwise would be, and consider that a fixed payment would lead to a more efficient solution.” he added.
The watchdog also said that compensating all Level 4 women born in the 1950s would “require around £3.5 billion to £10.5 billion of public funds, but all would suffer unfairly.” I understand that there aren’t any.”
Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb said the government would have to back down and come up with some kind of “relief” for Wapsi women, who will be most affected by changes to the pension age.
“This position is unlikely to be sustainable,” says Sir Steve, now a partner at pension consultancy LCP.
But he warned that the scheme would almost certainly be “targeted” rather than apply to all 3.6 million women affected by the state pension age change.
He predicted it would probably apply to people who could prove they had suffered a “life-changing rise in the state pension age” as a result of the DWP collapse.
Angela Madden, chair of the Waspi campaign group, said the level six pay of £10,000 per person would “recognize more clearly and rationally the inequity and opportunity costs suffered”. She said it was now up to politicians to “put their money where their mouth is.”
Rishi Sunak’s government has been reluctant to promise compensation, while Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor Party is cautious about committing to new spending ahead of this year’s general election.
Senior Conservative MP Peter Aldous, deputy chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wasp Issues (APPG), supported the idea of giving every woman affected £10,000.
Labor MP John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, also supported a higher award. He said the proposed compensation of only a maximum of £2,950 “will be a bitter disappointment to many women who will feel betrayed”.
Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said DWP’s refusal to pay Waspi women was “astonishing” and “it would be unjust for their relief to be delayed any longer”.
Pension Managers Institute (PMI) policy director Tim Middleton said the DWP’s stance was “a cause for concern” and urged the government “to ensure that people eligible for compensation do not have to wait any longer”. requested.
The DWP did not deny accepting the findings or refusing to offer compensation.
A ministry spokesperson said: “We will consider the Ombudsman’s report and cooperate fully throughout this investigation before taking appropriate action.”