WOMEN left out of pocket by surprise pension changes were let down by the Department for Work and Pensions, an ombudsman has found.
The DWP knew many 50s-born women were in the dark about pension changes — but failed to act urgently.
The 1995 Pensions Act equalised this age for men and women in an upwards shift affecting 3.8 million 1950s-born women.
The scandal triggered a number of campaigns, including Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality).
Now the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has found the department took too long to respond once it knew a significant proportion of women were unaware of the changes to their state pension age.
The ombudsman said it had received a significant number of complaints about the way this was communicated by the DWP, with many women left unaware of the changes suffering significant financial loss and emotional distress.
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Failings in the action taken by the DWP to communicate the state pension age took place from 2005 onwards, it said.
The PHSO will now go on to consider the impact these failings had and make recommendations to put things right for any associated injustice.
Amanda Amroliwala, PHSO chief executive officer, said: "After a detailed investigation, we have found that the DWP failed to act quickly enough once it knew a significant proportion of women were not aware of changes to their state pension age. It should have written to the women affected at least 28 months earlier than it did.
"We will now consider the impact of these failings, and what action should be taken to address them."
The PHSO provides a complaint handling service for issues about the NHS in England and UK Government departments.
A DWP spokesperson said: "Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.
"In a move towards gender equality, it was decided more than 25 years ago to make the state pension age the same for men and women."
Ann Fraser and Susan Bolland, the co-ordinators of the Cunninghame Waspi group, said: "Some women had already stopped working before their 60th birthday, believing that they would get their state pension as per their contract with the government when they started work at 15 years of age. Other women stopped working due to ill health, they then found out they had to wait an extra six years for their state pension.
"Some women lost their homes and had to move in with their family; where is the dignity in this?
"Lots of women are now on the old rate of state pension although have paid in 43-plus years of national insurance. We were told it was due to not working in 2016 when another non-notified change took place.
"There are many changes to women's state pension that even the DWP cannot answer. Although they are mostly sympathetic, this does not pay the bills.
"We have waited a very long time for the PHSO decision and today we are happy that Waspi women have been vindicated in their fight for justice. We hope that the government do the right thing and compensate Waspi women appropriately. Sadly some women have passed away waiting on their state pension."
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Tom Selby, a senior analyst at investments firm AJ Bell, said: "Millions of women were affected by increases in their state pension age originally put forward in the 1995 Pensions Act.
"It was reasonable for these women to expect the government to provide as much information as possible to communicate changes which would have such a profound impact on their retirement plans."
He added: "The ombudsman now plans to look at the impact this injustice had, which will undoubtedly lead to more pressure for a resolution.
"Given the parlous state of UK finances, calls in some quarters to compensate women affected in full — which could amount to six years of state pension payments — are likely to fall on deaf ears."
David Linden, the SNP's work and pensions spokesperson, commented: "This report exposes multiple failings and instances of maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions over a prolonged period of time.
"The ombudsman has been damning of the DWP’s handling of communications relating to state pension age increases, effectively finding that ministers continued to take the same action despite knowing it wasn’t working and that women were being left in the dark about their retirement.
"Women born in the 1950s have suffered a huge injustice which has now been recognised by the ombudsman. They have been robbed of the retirement they deserve and I hope that the full impact of this is recognised."
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