Last week, Thursday 16 May, Stephen spoke in a parliamentary debate about the Parliament Health and Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) investigation into the increase in the women’s State Pension Age. He called on the Government to bring forward proposals for a compensation scheme before summer.
In 1995, the Government legislated to equalise the State Pension age for men and women by increasing the State Pension age for women born in the 1950s from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020. However, many women were unaware of the change - only 43% of women reported knowing of it in 2004 - leading to them suffering financial hardship.
The Parliamentary Health and Service Ombudsman (PHSO) conclused its investigation into the women’s State Pension age on 21 March 2024. The investigation found maladministration in how the Department for Work and Pensions had managed the change.
In particular, the PHSO decided that the DWP failed to provide targeted and tailored information to ensure women were aware of how the increase would impact them. The PHSO called for the Government to compensate affected women.
Stephen spoke in a debate on the PHSO’s investigation last week, following his committee’s one-off hearing about the report on 7 May. He reflected on his own experience as Pensions Minister in the last Labour Government and argued for the Government to bring forward proposals for compensation.
“We need to find a resolution to this issue, and to find it quite quickly, because it has dragged on for a very long time,” Stephen said.