An investigation into a controversial increase in women’s state pension age has moved up a gear and will be sped up, it has been announced.
Around 3.8million women have lost up to six years in pension payments due to their retirement age rising from 60 to 65, now 66.
The campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality, or WASPI, has been fighting against this inequality for decades.
But now the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published the findings of the first stage of an investigation last summer into the move to raise women’s state pension age to 65, Lancs Live reports.
It judged that in 2005, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) "failed to make a reasonable decision about targeting information to the women affected by these changes".
It also said that in 2006 the DWP proposed writing to women individually to tell them about the changes to the state pension age, but "failed to act promptly," branding both "maladministration".
WASPI has long said that women born in the 1950s suffered financially from the 1995 Pensions Act and subsequent legislation, which raised the state pension age for women born on or after April 6, 1950.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said: “Women complained to us that DWP did not adequately communicate these changes.
“They say they have experienced financial loss and a negative impact on their health, emotional well being or home life as a result.
“They also complained that they suffered financial loss due to DWP inadequately communicating how many national Insurance qualifying years they need for a full state pension.
“They told us that DWP’s and the Independent Case Examiner’s (ICE) handling of their complaints about these issues had a negative effect on their emotional well being.”
The Ombudsman is now preparing the second stage of its investigation.
It added: "We are going to begin considering what action we think DWP should take to remedy the apparent injustice.
“We will share our provisional views about remedy once we have considered any further evidence we receive about our provisional views for stage two."
Both Tory leadership hopefuls, when quizzed on the matter, have expressed sympathy for the plight of WASPI women but did not promise concrete action.
Liz Truss last week said it wasn't "handled well at the time" but that it would be unlikely to be sorted under her leadership.
Meanwhile, former chancellor Rishi Sunak said, the previous week: “I’m going to be straight with you. I can’t promise you I’m going to be able to resolve that situation."
A WASPI spokesperson welcomed the move, and said: "WASPI welcome the Ombudsman’s decision to speed up the investigation process by combining the publication of the findings about the issues from Stage II and any recommended remedy at the same time.
"One WASPI woman is dying every 14 minutes waiting for compensation.”
A spokesperson for the DWP told Lancs Live: “The Government decided over 25 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality.
"Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.”
