The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has rejected a call from Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan to provide 3.8m women across the UK, who missed out on State Pension payments due to the change in retirement age, with an interim payment to help them through the ongoing cost of living crisis while a decision is made on the amount of compensation they are due.
Ms Morgan told the House of Commons on Monday: “Last July, the pensions ombudsman concluded that the Government had been too slow to inform many women that they would be affected by the rising State Pension age. Along with the cost of living crisis, this means that many of the WASPI women (Women Against State Pension Inequality) are struggling to get by, and it is one of the concerns most frequently raised in my weekly surgeries.
“I wonder whether the Secretary of State will commit himself to an interim payment for the women affected by the change in pension age while they wait for the release of the ombudsman’s final report.”
Responding on behalf of the DWP, Pensions Minister Laura Trott MP said: “As the Honourable Lady knows, the investigation is ongoing, so it would not be appropriate to take any further steps at this stage.”
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 Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled 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”.
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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