State Pension Age Communications and Complaints Handling

Thursday 25th June 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Torsten Bell)]

In January 2026 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced the Government’s new response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s report into the way that changes to the state pension age were communicated to women born in the 1950s. This included a commitment to deliver an action plan to learn lessons from the ombudsman’s investigation. Today this action plan has been published on gov.uk.

I will also place a copy of the action plan in the Libraries of the House.

The action plan sets out key steps for state pension age communications and complaints handling, recognising the importance of building a continuous learning approach.

I am grateful to the ombudsman who has provided support to develop the action plan. As we have set out in the plan, we will work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders on future state pension age communications.

[HCWS148]