The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has declined a request from Labour MP, John McDonnell, to meet with a delegation of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners to “talk about their plight and find a way forward” amid an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) into the way the DWP communicated changes to retirement age.
DWP Minister, Laura Trott, was also unable to comment when asked by the SNP’s Alan Brown about the impact of the cost of living crisis on 3.8 million WASPI women who have been affected by the change to retirement age. The Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP urged the UK Government to “ step up to the plate and agree fair and swift compensation” for those women “suffering that injustice”.
The WASPI campaign identified around 3.8 million women born in the 1950s who suddenly found they would have to work many more years when the State Pension age was increased to 65 between 2016 and 2018 and then to 66, for both men and women across the UK in October, 2020.
In July 2021, the PHSO ruled that the DWP failed to communicate the changes with enough urgency, finding it guilty of maladministration, and is currently investigating the harm caused.
Changes to the State Pension age, which were legislated for in 1995, were not communicated through targeted letters to the affected women until 2008, leading the PHSO to find that "The opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost”.
In the House of Commons on Monday, Labour MP John McDonnell, said : “Members across the House will have appreciated the sense of grievance and injustice from women born in the 1950s who were not given proper notice of the rise in the state pension age.
“The ombudsman [PHSO] has recognised this as maladministration, the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip [Boris Johnson], when he was the Prime Minister and leading the campaign in the 2019 general election, said he would address this matter.
“Since then, more of those women are now living in poverty and 200,000 of them have died, yet not a single Minister has met them since 2016. Is the Minister willing to meet a delegation from the WASPI campaign to talk about their plight and find a way forward?”
Ms Trott responded: “A wide range of support is available to those of State Pension age and for those on low income who are entitled to pensioner benefits.
“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question and understand where he is coming from, but there is an ongoing investigation so it would be inappropriate for me to meet people at this stage.”
Mr Brown then highlighted how the PHSO had found the DWP guilty of maladministration regarding State Pension age increases.
He said: “The PHSO also suggested that the Department could consider being proactive in remedying the injustice suffered by 3.8 million women, rather than waiting for its final conclusions.
“Given the ongoing cost of living crisis, does the Minister agree that now is the time for the Government to step up to the plate and agree fair and swift compensation for the women suffering that injustice?”
Ms Trott replied: “I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman but I must repeat that I cannot comment where there is an ongoing investigation.”
Research released earlier this year by the WASPI campaign suggested that an estimated 220,190 women will have died in the seven years since the campaign started by the end of this year - without having received any compensation.
Analysis, conducted by Statista, also showed that since WASPI started campaigning, the UK Government has saved an estimated £3.8billion on compensation payouts most likely to be awarded to those affected.
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