The head of the Department for Work and Pensions expressed astonishment at receiving correspondence from the ombudsman criticising his department’s handling of lessons learned from the Waspi women case.
Sir Peter Schofield, the DWP’s permanent secretary, told the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday that he was “surprised” when Paula Sussex, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman chief, copied him on a letter to committee chair Debbie Abrahams.
In her correspondence, Ms Sussex raised “serious concerns about the significant delays in the implementation of the actions that DWP committed to undertake” regarding the state pension age investigation.
She noted that work on the action plan “had been paused to prioritise support for Ministers in retaking the decision on whether to offer financial compensation”.
The development of the action plan began following the December 2024 decision by the then-secretary of state on the Waspi case, which included a commitment to collaborate with the ombudsman.
Sir Peter explained that he met with Paula Sussex’s predecessor, the interim ombudsman, on 16 January 2025 to establish how they would work together.
“It took a while to mobilise, I think on their side as much as ours, but we then had two workshops in April and in June,” he told MPs.
These sessions focused on complaints and communications, with the department subsequently developing an internal plan based on the workshop outcomes.
A working draft was finalised by the end of summer, requiring assessment across multiple teams to ensure deliverability.
However, this draft was completed just as Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden announced on 11 November that the Government would reconsider its compensation decision.
Waspi protestors holding placards | GETTY
Sir Peter recounted meeting with the ombudsman before the Christmas period to discuss the action plan’s status.
“She said she wanted to know that we had been making progress, so I showed her the draft action plan,” he told the committee.
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The permanent secretary indicated he believed this meeting had addressed her concerns.
“To be honest I thought that she was reassured, I thought if she was not reassured she would have let me know, but she wrote you a letter instead,” Sir Peter said.
Waspi women seek compensation from the Labour government due to DWP “maladministration” | Getty Images
He defended the pause in implementation work, describing the Government’s reconsideration of the Waspi decision as “a serious Government exercise” that necessarily prevented continuation of work stemming from the previous decision.
“That’s the formal position that we’re under,” he added.
The PHSO had previously recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for each woman affected by how state pension changes were communicated.
In December 2024, the Government accepted the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and apologised for delays in writing to women born in the 1950s, but rejected a blanket compensation scheme that could cost taxpayers up to £10.5billion.
A DWP boss has told MPs he was “surprised” to see a letter from an ombudsman
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PASir Peter emphasised that the department was actively working on improving communications, highlighting current campaigns including “check your state pension age”, which will be evaluated in April.
He pointed to online tools enabling people to view their national insurance records, pension forecasts and state pension age.
“There is so much that we’re doing on this front, we’ve got the pension dashboard programme,” he added.