Government is accused by MP of being 'tone deaf' to WASPI women's demand for pension justice

Angela Madden, who chairs WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), was in London today for a backbench debate on the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report which declared the Department of Work and Pensions guilty of maladministration by failing to give the women adequate notice of the changes. The Ombudsman’s report recommended that compensation at level four, between £1,000 and £2,950, should be awarded to each affected woman. This would involve spending between £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion of public funds.

In the opening speech of the debate SNP frontbencher Patricia Gibson said the Government was ‘tone deaf’ to the appeal by WASPI women for justice and she called for a vote in Parliament.

Conservative MP Peter Aldous, co-chairman of the All-Party Parliament Group on Women’s State Pension Inequality, said: “If Parliament chooses to do nothing, that will undermine the Ombudsman. The DWP should respect what Parliament recommends.”

Pensions minister Paul Maynard said: “We do not wish undue delay but it is a complex issue, not just a matter of ticking a box, so it needs to be got right.”

Angela said: “MPs from all parties are now rallying behind WASPI’s calls for fair and fast compensation, with the cross-party Work and Pensions Select Committee weighing in to demand ministers bring forward financial redress proposals before the summer recess.

“The Government's failure to communicate women's State Pension age increases had a detrimental impact on people’s health and wellbeing. This weekend, 280,000 WASPI women will have died since the campaign for justice began.

"The Government must now urgently present its plan to Parliament and give all MPs an opportunity to vote on their proposals."

Leaders of WASPI have set out details of the compensation scheme they believe that Parliament should bring about.

The campaigners say compensation should be ‘two-pronged’ with a first element which is ‘speedy, simple and sensitive’, giving a tiered amount to all affected women based on how long they had to wait for their State Pension and how little notice they were given of the change.

A second prong should give women an opportunity to prove ‘direct financial loss’ such as lost earnings, in their individual case, for an additional payment. This goes beyond the PHSO’s recommendations but the campaign says it is essential if injustice is to be properly recognised.

Angela said: “The DWP cannot just keep ignoring us.”