Wednesday 21 January
2026, 09:30, Committee Room 16
DWP officials will be questioned by Work and Pensions Committee
MPs amid concerns raised by the Parliamentary and Health Service
Ombudsman (PHSO) over how seriously the Department is tackling
failings at the heart of the WASPI women scandal.
PHSO chief Paula Sussex
wrote to Committee Chair of “serious concerns” over
delays to promised remedial actions to how the DWP handles
complaints and communicates state pension reforms. In November,
the PHSO was told by the Permanent Secretary – who is due to be a
witness at the evidence session – that work on the action plan
has been paused. Ms. Sussex said she was “very concerned that
stopping indicates that the DWP is deprioritizing the need for
remedial action”, adding the move is “certainly a disservice to
the Department's service users and complainants”.
Ahead of tackling the PHSO issue, MPs will ask about overpayments
of carers allowance. Almost 90,000 people have racked up debts to
the DWP, whose pursual of repayments the 2025 Sayce Review found
had a profound impact on people's lives. The review found that
systemic failures in the Department caused this and that the
Department missed opportunities to address the situation sooner.
MPs will ask about the DWPs treatment of claimants after an
internal blogpost was leaked that laid the blame for the scandal
with victims.
During the session, billed to scrutinise the Department's Annual
Reports and Accounts, MPs are also likely to ask officials about
fraud and error figures, the use of AI by the Department, and how
it is taking on the skills brief.
Witnesses
From 09.30
- Sir Peter Schofield KCB, Permanent Secretary, Department for
Work and Pensions
- Catherine Vaughan, Director General, Finance, Department for
Work and Pensions
- Barbara Bennett, Chief Executive and Director General, Jobs
and Careers Service Operations, Department for Work and Pensions
ENDS
Notes to editors
- A copy of the PHSO Chair's letter to is attached to this
email. It can also be found online with the following
URL:https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/51122/documents/283520/default/
- In December 2025, an internal blogpost, written by , a Director General at DWP,
was leaked to media. It appeared to blame carers allowance
overpayments on claimants despite the Sayce report finding
otherwise. Couling reportedly wrote in the post,
“Incidentally what has been missed in all the [media]
coverage is that this error (and hands up we made it and we
will put it right) affects only a relatively small number of
cases and wasn't the cause of the original complaint. Because
at the heart of the overpayment issues in CA [carer's
allowance] is a failure to report changes of
circumstances”.
