Closing the gender pension gap – MPs to take evidence
Women are at higher risk of being in poverty during pension age than men, with pension age men receiving more than a third more on average in their pensions than women.
Meeting details
The Work and Pensions Committee will take evidence from think-tanks to explore how this gender pension gap exists and what policy measures can be taken to address it for the Committee’s Pensioner Poverty inquiry.
WASPI Chair Angela Madden and PHSO’s Karl Banister will also be asked about the Ombudsman’s report after its investigation brought by WASPI into how the DWP communicated pension age hikes for women born in the 1950s. In its final report in March 2024, the public services watchdog said that although the women did not lose out directly from maladministration, they had lost out on opportunities as a result of it. It added that the women should be compensated.
While the Government accepted that it had not informed them in a timely manner, it disagreed that doing so would’ve made a significant difference. It concluded that it could not justify compensating those affected.
This is the PHSO’s first appearance before a committee since the Government’s decision.