Equalisation of State Pension Age 1950's Women

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

On a recent face book notice the below information was placed on the face book site which had said:
You can find it on https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/...

WASPI EXPLOSIVE: Cheated pensioner exposes 2004 leaflet CONFIRMING 2020 as year when female SPA to rise.

From a Government’s Quick Guide to Pensions from 2004

The person said :he ramifications of this are enormous:
1. It shows that fully nine years after 1950s born women were “told” of their pension ages rising (which was itself as clear a breaking of promise as you’ll find in the pension provision sector) official Government leaflets were still saying that women had until 2020 to prepare for the SPA rise.
2. This gave the women affected sixteen years to prepare for medium term saving as a stopgap, and kept the age rise at 65. Not one single female born between 1951 and 1959 would’ve been affected at all……that was what they “knew” in 2004.
Citizens should be able to rely on the accuracy and completeness of
Information provided by Government departments.

This is particularly true in the case of pensions, where citizens need to plan ahead, and where, without reliable information, they may make personal decisions that are not in their best interests.

The DWP seem to have failed to publicise a change in the law
And gave misleading information to the public in this leaflet

Government departments do not have a duty to provide information on changes in the law, but where they do issue such material, they have a legal responsibility to ensure that it is accurate and complete.

My freedom of information requests are:

When did the DWP notice that this Government leaflet was still saying that women had until 2020 to prepare for the SPA rise?

How many of this incorect information leaflet was sent out by the DWP?

When was this leaflet withdrawed by the DWP? And who alerted the
Department to the fact that the DWP was giving incorrect information to citizens.

Can you supply a copy of this incorect leaflet?

Can you supply a copy of any updated leaflet? And when it was produced.

What action have the Government/ DWP taken since discovering the error?

From a Report by the
Comptroller and Auditor General Department of Social Security

State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme:
The failure to inform the public of reduced pension rights for widows and widowers
HC 320 Session 1999–00
Published March 2000

The Department failed to publicise a change in the law and gave misleading information to the public for more than a decade.

18 In the light of the events described in this report, we have identified a 0number of areas where action should be taken, or where existing developments within the Department should be completed as soon as possible. Making effective improvements in these areas should help to ensure that similar events do not occur again

c) given the potential consequences of incorrect and incomplete leaflets, this arearemains high risk, and we suggest that the Department’s Internal Audit Service undertake a regular review to ensure that the new arrangements for ensuring complete and accurate leaflets are being implemented effectively (paragraph 3.14);

With regards to Quick Guide to Pensions from 2004

My Freedom of Information are:

Did the Internal Audit Service undertake a regular review to ensure that the new arrangements for ensuring complete and accurate leaflets are being implemented effectively especially on the Quick Guide to Pensions from 2004 prior to it being printed.

Yours faithfully,
Langton

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Equalisation of State Pension Age 1950's Women'.

still await a reply

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Yours faithfully,

LANGTON

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of Operations FOI Team, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear ,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 30
August.

Your response is attached

Yours sincerely,

DWP Operations FOI Team

J Roberts left an annotation ()

'A confidential letter seen by this website shows the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Sir Robert Behrens, has managed to both exonerate and damn the Department for Work and Pensions for its handling of the administration of the rise in the pension age for millions of women born in the 1950s and 1960s...'

https://davidhencke.com/?wref=bif