The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has published an ‘action plan’ that focuses on learning lessons from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) investigation into historic communications on women’s state pension age.

Following the investigation, the DWP said it wanted to establish a new strategy for “effective, timely, and modern” communications on the state pension.

“Our overall approach to state pension communications will be sufficiently flexible so that we can consider insight and future learnings, and incorporate messages on any future changes to pension policy,” the DWP stated.

“We want to make the most of new digital communication methods and tools providing a joined-up government service for individuals.”

The government said it recognised the importance of reflecting on and learning from the PHSO’s findings, with its action plan outlining how it intends to acknowledge lessons learned in state pension communications, focusing on state pension age and complaints handling.

The action plan is expected to be completed by April 2027 and will close on the completion of six actions.

Its first action is to develop a communications strategy containing activity and outcome measures to support the delivery of communications on the state pension.

This will be followed by the delivery of a communications campaign encouraging people to check their state pension age using a digital tool, and a consideration of the best ways to identify and consolidate evidence gathered across the customer journey by different areas of the DWP.

A stakeholder working group will be established to provide input on future state pension communications approaches and products when needed.

The DWP will also look to ensure that learnings from the PHSO report informed any future relevant high-volume complaint campaigns.

Finally, the DWP will investigate whether any of the learnings in the first four actions were potentially scalable and could be applied to other DWP services.

"The DWP's action plan is a positive step towards ensuring people receive clearer, more personalised information about their state pension age and any future changes,” commented Broadstone head of policy, David Brooks.

“An ageing population, rising state pension costs at a time of fiscal strain, and the continued commitment to the triple lock mean there will be increasing focus on whether future increases to the state pension age should be accelerated.

"If changes are ultimately recommended, effective communication cannot be an afterthought, so it is pleasing to see policymakers getting ahead of the game and rising to the challenge."

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