Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has undertaken financial modelling for a potential compensation scheme for issues raised in the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024.

As part of our work on the Ombudsman’s investigation and report, we have been considering the costs of setting up a compensation scheme. The Ombudsman used DWP’s broad estimates in their report published 21 March 2024, stating that “Compensating all women born in the 1950s at the level 4 range would involve spending between around £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion of public funds”. This estimate excludes administration costs.

This government is giving its full and proper consideration to all areas of the Ombudsman's report.

Once this work has been undertaken, we will be in a position to outline our approach.