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<p>The approach of successive governments has been consistent. The Independent Case
Examiner is independent. She is appointed under contract to adjudicate on escalated
complaints about the DWP, and its contracted service providers, in cases where the
complainant has exhausted the relevant internal complaints process and remains dissatisfied.
If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of an Independent Case Examiner
investigation (or the service provided by the Independent Case Examiner) they can
ask their Member of Parliament to escalate their complaint to the Parliamentary and
Health Service Ombudsman</p><p>Ministers have no role in assessing the efficacy of
the Independent Case Examiner in investigating complaints from women affected by State
Pension age equalisation measures.</p><p> </p><p>The Independent Case Examiner resources
are reviewed on an annual basis. Since October 2017, the Independent Case Examiner
has experienced increased levels of referrals associated with legislative changes
to State Pension age for women. The Independent Case Examiner responded by dedicating
a team of three investigation case managers.</p><p> </p><p>The Independent Case Examiner
aims to complete any investigation within 20 weeks of starting work on a case. The
Independent Case Examiner reports related to legislative changes to State Pension
age for women that have been concluded to date have been completed within an average
of 9.75 weeks. To date, the Independent Case Examiner had not upheld any case specific
complaints that the DWP failed to provide adequate and timely information relating
to the increase in State Pension age. All final Independent Case Examiner reports
explain how the complainant can escalate their complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s
Office. The Parliamentary Health and Service Ombudsman make final decisions on complaints
that have not been resolved by UK Government Departments. This was set up in 1967
under the then Labour Government.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>
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