Government apology and compensation for 1950s Women affected by pension changes

We ask Government to deliver a fair, timely, fully transparent apology that reflects ALL evidence based on what we think constitutes maladministration and discrimination; and addresses the financial, emotional and personal hardship experienced by 1950s women caused by pension changes.

Many 1950s-born women have faced lifelong and historic discrimination, compounded by the Government’s failure to properly communicate State Pension Age changes. DWP Ministers have listened only to a group representing a fraction of those affected, leaving others feeling ignored. As many campaign groups unite, we think it is unacceptable that the Government continues to silence the majority. After decades of inequality, accountability and action are long overdue.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) investigated the way State Pension age changes were communicated to women born in the 1950s and whether within a specific time period there was maladministration and injustice and if so, whether it warrants compensation. They did not examine the “financial, emotional and personal hardship experienced by 1950s women caused by pension changes” that the petition focuses on and which relate to the decision, first taken by Parliament in 1995, to equalise the State Pension age for men and women nor that to accelerate the increases in 2011 taken by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition.

The PHSO’s findings relate narrowly to a delay in sending letters over a relatively short period. The Ombudsman found that the Department’s communications met expected standards between 1995 and 2004. But that between 2005 and 2007 there was a 28 month delay in sending personalised letters to women affected and that this was maladministration.

On 29 January the Secretary of State announced the Government’s new decision on the Ombudsman’s investigation. He accepted that individual letters about changes to the State Pension age could have been sent earlier. He apologised for that maladministration in the House of Commons and in the document explaining his decision which has been published.

The Secretary of State recognised the importance that decisions on the State Pension age carry and the impact they have on people’s lives the need for government to weigh carefully any future changes. The Department is developing an Action Plan for the future.