Thousands of pensioners could be owed compensation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) due to a newly identified state pension communication issue.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has urged older people in Britain who may be affected to come forward as soon as possible.
This latest issue is entirely separate from the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) scandal that affected 3.6 million women born in the 1950s.
An investigation revealed the DWP took eight years to inform a British expat about changes to his pension that would leave him £3,000 a year worse off.
State pensioners could be owed money from the DWP
GETTY
The Ombudsman is now pressing the Government to ensure all communications are "always fair, clear, and consistent" with claimants going forward.
Adrian Furnival, 82, and his wife Sheila, 67, moved to Brittany in 1994, with Adrian only discovering in 2018, through an annual statement from the DWP, that from 2020 he would no longer receive Adult Dependency Increase (ADI) payments.
This change meant he would be more than £250 a month worse off. The PHSO investigation found that the Department failed to properly communicate these changes to Adrian when they should have done so in April 2010.
The DWP also failed to respond to his initial queries and complaints in a timely manner. Adult Dependency Increase payments are a supplement given to households when the main earner reached state pension age, but their partner had not yet reached it.
The Government is making drastic changes to pension payments
PAUK residents were informed about changes to ADI payments back in 2010. However, the PHSO investigation highlighted that the DWP failed to properly brief Adrian about these updates.
The Ombudsman has recommended that the DWP apologises and pay Adrian £675 for the injustice he suffered. This compensation is meant to address the fact that without proper information, Adrian lost the opportunity to prepare financially for his retirement.
The changes ultimately ended his ADI payments completely in 2020. Rebecca Hilsenrath, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, didn't mince words about the situation.
"Poor communication from Government departments damages trust in public services," she said. "DWP has a history of failing to communicate pension policy changes clearly and failing to learn from its mistakes."
She added: "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."
Hilsenrath urged action for those affected: "Anyone who believes they have had a similar experience to Adrian should contact DWP."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Waspi women seek compensation from the Labour government due to DWP "maladministration"Getty ImagesThe PHSO revealed that while the exact number of expats entitled to ADI is unknown, in May 2019 - just a year before ADI ended - the DWP told Parliament that 10,817 people were still receiving these payments.
The watchdog is pressing the DWP to provide "a comparable remedy to anyone who approaches the Department in a similar situation.
This means thousands of pensioners could potentially be owed the same £675 compensation if they experienced similar communication failures.
Last December, the DWP admitted maladministration regarding its communication to 1950s-born women about State Pension age changes.
However, unlike the current ADI issue, the department did not establish a compensation scheme for those women. The department has pledged to take on board the insights gained from this case and is working alongside the Ombudsman.
