Do Waspi women have to register to receive compensation? STEVE WEBB warns against scam websites

Do Waspi women have to register somehow to have a chance of receiving any compensation?

Steve Webb replies: I would like to provide an update on the status of the position of women who have been affected by failure to notify changes to their state pension age.

But first I want to emphasize that, as things stand, there is no compensation scheme in place and there is nothing to ‘register’ for.

If you are asked to submit your details on a website it could very well be a scam, as we warned earlier this year after being alerted by the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign.

The most significant development in this whole issue was the publication of a Parliamentary Ombudsman report in March 2024, which found that ‘thousands of women may have been affected by DWP’s failure to act appropriately’. inform them that the state pension age has changed’.

Note that the Ombudsman has always made it clear that the focus was on ‘mismanagement’ – the way the change process was managed by DWP, and not on the changes to state pension ages per se.

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Very early in the process, the Ombudsman said that his role was not to override Parliament’s ability to make changes to retirement ages, and that his focus was purely on how this was handled.

It follows that any compensation would not be accompanied by the reinstatement of pensions from the point at which they would otherwise have become due.

Compensation would only be paid for what is known in the jargon as ‘distress and inconvenience’ caused by the communication errors.

In his report, the Ombudsman recommended that the DWP:

– Apologize for the ‘mismanagement’;

– Provide compensation to the ‘example’ complainants at level 4 on the usual compensation scale – equivalent to between £1,000 and £2,950 each.

Turning to the wider group of women affected – and not just the small number of individual cases that the Ombudsman has investigated in depth – the Ombudsman said that compensation should normally be based on individual circumstances.

But it recognized that among the millions of potentially affected women there will be a wide diversity of individual circumstances and therefore something more ‘standardized’ may be needed.

In most cases, an Ombudsman’s report is accepted by the public body complained against and the recommendations are implemented.

Unfortunately, in this case the DWP has refused to accept the recommendations in their current form.

In response, the Ombudsman submitted his report to Parliament so that MPs could call on DWP to respond. Right now we’re waiting to see what that will be.

The new Pensions Secretary, Emma Reynolds, was more willing to join the Waspi campaign than her immediate predecessors and has now met with campaigners.

But earlier this month she told the House of Commons: ‘We do need it time to carefully consider the Ombudsman’s report and evidence before we can outline our approach.”

Whether this will be part of the budget statement or separately, we will eventually see the DWP’s response to the Ombudsman’s report.

At this stage we don’t know what the DWP will say, but given their refusal to accept the Ombudsman’s report, it seems exceptionally unlikely that they will come forward with a generous and comprehensive compensation offer.

They may insist that there is no maladministration and simply refuse to take any action or even apologize.

It is then up to MPs to decide whether to take action to pressure the ministry to reconsider.

A possible alternative is for the DWP to offer a very limited ‘hardship’ scheme, applying only to those most affected – perhaps those who have suffered the biggest changes or been least notified.

If so, they will need to determine at that stage who is eligible and how to apply.

There is only so long the DWP can continue to say it is ‘considering’ this report.

While a new government will want to take its time to form its own position and consider how the cost of a compensation scheme compares to other potential spending priorities, I believe that those affected have now waited long enough and should have an answer .

In the meantime, I repeat my warning at the outset to be wary of anyone trying to ‘register’ people for compensation and to wait for any official communications or publicity from the government itself.