Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride MP, has provided an update on the next steps regarding State Pension compensation for WASPI women (Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign). He stated that he will return to the House of Commons "when there is something to say" about a decision on whether women born in the 1950s, who were affected by changes to the State Pension age, should receive compensation.
This statement may cause confusion as the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report (PHSO), published on March 21, suggested that compensation should be awarded. Stride appeared on Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Monday but refused to be drawn by presenter and former politician, Ed Balls, into confirming any timescale or specific dates for providing WASPI women with an update on how the UK Government plans to proceed.
The PHSO report recommended that Parliament should intervene and "act swiftly" to ensure a compensation scheme is established. The Ombudsman's report suggests that compensation at level four of its remedy scale - between £1,000 and £2,950 - could be appropriate for each of those affected.
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Ed Balls posed the question to the DWP boss: "Are you going to tell the WASPI women whether they'll get their compensation? When will that happen? Will it be next week? ", reports the Daily Record.
The Parliament's Mr Stride responded: "What I've said Ed, and I've said this on the floor of the House (House of Commons) is that there will be no undue delay in us coming forward, but I do want to have sufficient time, and there are very strong feelings about this on all sides of the argument incidentally as to weather compensation should be paid or not and I do want to make sure that we get that judgmental call right."
"The Ombudsman of course has also invited Parliament to be part of that process, but we will do this as quickly as we can."
Ed Balls asked: "The WASPI women will think they've been waiting quite a long time and I just wondered will it be in April? ".
Mr Stride assured: "I've not yet tied down, for the reasons I've given, to a specific moment in time but just to reassure as I did to the House of Commons at the earliest possible opportunity, we will look at this very carefully."
The GMB presenter pressed for an announcement to be made before the upcoming General Election, but the DWP boss reaffirmed the seriousness of the matter, saying that “proper time is needed to consider a very complex report”.
A six-year probe made by the PHSO reached a conclusion that women born in the 1950s who were impacted by short notice changes to their State Pension age should receive some form of compensation.
The Ombudsman presented a report last month, in which it urged Parliament to find a mechanism that could provide proper redress for those who have been wronged. The statement read: "We think this will provide the quickest route to remedy for those who have suffered injustice because of DWP's maladministration."
Besides offering compensation, the Ombudsman also recommended the DWP recognise its mistakes and issue an apology.
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Following the report's release, the Ombudsman expressed disappointment at the DWP, citing that they had failed to admit their shortcomings nor make amends for the individuals affected. Their findings suggest thousands of women born in the 1950s could have been impacted.
Over 221,000 individuals have already signed an open letter initiated by WASPI campaign chair, Angela Madden. The letter, addressed to the Leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt MP, calls for an 'urgent' debate and vote in Parliament on compensation for millions of women affected by alterations to the State Pension age.
Angela Madden's full letter reads thus: "Dear Penny Mordaunt, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has confirmed that WASPI women are due compensation. But the Department of Work and Pensions refuses to comply."
"The All-Party Parliamentary Group on this issue - which is backed by hundreds of MPs across party lines - has long backed substantial compensation."
"The Commons must urgently have the opportunity to debate and vote on their proposals, and any others that MPs wish to bring forward."
"After all, with 3.5m affected - and one dying every 13 minutes -everyone knows somebody who has been affected by the DWP's incompetence and neglect of 1950s-born women."
The WASPI letter can be viewed on Change.org here.
