Officials from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had been considering a proposal to allow those women to buy up to nine years’ worth of National Insurance contributions to help boost their pension entitlement.

However, they eventually ruled that the plan was unworkable.

Baroness Hollis told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme that the decision had provoked an angry response among Labour peers in the House of Lords.

She added: “Loyal backbenchers have said to me … they were so outraged now that in future they will defy the government on the issue when it comes back to the Lords.”

Pensions minister Lord McKenzie appeared on the same programme to explain that the idea had simply proved too expensive to implement.

However, he added that discussions about how to help the women affected by the issue would continue.

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