Thousands of older people could be due a payout linked to their State Pension from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) following an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). It’s important to be aware this is a separate investigation by the Ombudsman and is not linked to changes in the State Pension age, which affected an estimated 3.5 million women born in the 1950s.
The PHSO found that the DWP took eight years to inform a British ex-pat about a change to his State Pension that would leave him £3,000 a year worse off and is now urging the UK Government to make sure their communication with the public is “always fair, clear, and consistent”.
Adrian Furnival, 82, and his wife Sheila, 67, moved to Brittany in 1994, however, Adrian found out in 2018 through the annual DWP uprating letter that from 2020 he would no longer receive Adult Dependency Increase (ADI) payments – a supplement given to households when the main earner reached State Pension age, but their partner had not. The PHSO said this meant he would be over £250 a month worse off.
People who lived in the UK had been told about the change to ADI payments eight years earlier in 2010. However, the PHSO found that the DWP failed to properly communicate the changes to Adrian and that DWP should have told him about the changes in April 2010.
The Ombudsman also said the DWP “failed to respond to his initial queries and complaints in a timely way” and has recommended that Adrian receive an apology from the Department and “£675 for the injustice he suffered”.
The PHSO said: “The number of those who were living abroad and entitled to ADI is unknown but in May 2019, a year before ADI ended, DWP told Parliament that 10,817 people were still in receipt of ADI.”
The Ombudsman has recommended that DWP should also provide a “comparable remedy to anyone who approaches the Department in a similar situation”.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said: “Poor communication from Government departments damages trust in public services.
“DWP has a history of failing to communicate pension policy changes clearly and failing to learn from its mistakes. In Adrian’s case, this meant that, without the right information, he lost the opportunity to prepare for his retirement. It also caused him unnecessary financial worry.”
Ms Hilsenrath added: “Anyone who believes they have had a similar experience to Adrian should contact DWP. DWP has complied with our recommendations and will provide a comparable remedy to anyone who approaches them with a similar situation.”
Full details on how to contact the Pension Service can be found on GOV.UK here.
In December, DWP accepted PHSO’s finding of maladministration in how it communicated changes to the State Pension age to women born in the 1950s and apologised.
However, it did not accept the PHSO recommendations in full and will not create a compensation scheme for women affected.
The Department said it will learn lessons and work with the Ombudsman to create an action plan to make sure future changes are communicated well.
You can read Adrian’s story on the PHSO website here.