Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Supreme Court refused the claimants’ permission to appeal. Importantly, the case brought before the High Court was dismissed on all grounds, including notice, in October 2019. The Court also ruled that there had been no discrimination on grounds of age or sex.

The Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007 and 2011 were all subject to public consultation and debate in Parliament and were all widely reported in the media. The changes in the 1995 legislation were communicated in leaflets, advertising campaigns and individual letters. The up-to-date State Pension age was also provided to those who requested a Pension Statement. More than 37 million personal State Pension statements were provided between April 2000 and September 2020.

I am aware that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has concluded stages one and two of its investigation into how the DWP communicated changes to women’s State Pension age. However, the PHSO investigation is a multi-staged process, and Section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 makes clear that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.