Overview

• On July 3, MPs from multiple parties held a Commons backbench debate urging the Department for Work and Pensions to compensate around 3.6 million women born in the 1950s for delayed pension age notifications.
• The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that the DWP failed to properly notify women of state pension age increases and recommended payments of £1,000 to £2,950 per claimant.
• DWP has accepted the maladministration finding and apologized for a 28-month notification delay but rejected the compensation recommendation in December, citing prohibitive costs for taxpayers.
• Women Against State Pension Inequality campaigners secured a High Court order capping their potential legal costs at £60,000 as they pursue a judicial review of the compensation refusal.
• Potential liabilities from redress have been estimated at up to £10.5 billion and the dispute is seen as a measure of political accountability that could sway older voter sentiment.