Stuart Anderson MP has said he is "deeply troubled" by the government's announcement that there will be no financial compensation for women who have been affected by increases to the State Pension Age. This is despite the Prime Minister having in 2022 described the situation as a "huge injustice."
Stuart said that the decision is "disappointing." He had previously called for the "prompt delivery of fast and fair compensation" to those impacted by the two incidents of maladministration – in 2005 and then again in 2006 – when the government at the time could have been better in communicating changes made to the State Pension age.
In its report, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found that "women should have had at least 28 months’ more individual notice of the changes than they got." It added "the opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost."
The Ombudsman also said: "DWP failed to take adequate account of the need for targeted and individually tailored information or of how likely it was doing the same thing would achieve different results. Despite having identified there was more it could do, it failed to provide the public with as full information as possible."
In light of the situation, the Ombudsman recommended that “Parliament must urgently identify a mechanism for providing that appropriate remedy.” In October, Stuart then called for MPs to be given the opportunity to debate and vote on proposals as well as to put forward alternatives for compensation.
Almost 80 MPs from the government benches have previously posed with WASPI placards, some as recently as September. The Deputy Prime Minister had also committed to a compensation scheme, having said: "we’ll compensate them for the money that they’ve lost."
Yet, in a statement in the House of Commons made on Tuesday 17th December, the Secretary of State Liz Kendall declared that a financial compensation scheme would not be "fair or proportionate. Given this, Stuart has now called on Ministers to reconsider their response to the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman's report into State Pension Age communications.
Otherwise, he added, it risks undermining trust in politics. As recently as 9th December, the Government said that it "respects" the role of the Ombudsman and is "absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve".
At least 3.5 million women have been affected by increases to the State Pension age. An extra 10 million pensioners, including 1.6 million disabled people, are set to lose their access to Winter Fuel Payments, after another decision that Stuart has criticised: to restrict eligibility to those only in receipt of means-tested benefits like Pension Credit.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"I am deeply troubled by the government's decision not to provide financial compensation to women affected by increases to the State Pension age. My own mother is caught up in this situation. As with restrictions to winter fuel payments, this new government has betrayed the trust of millions of voters. The Ombudsman made a clear recommendation that compensation should be paid to those impacted. Ignoring their advice only erodes trust in politics. So, I am calling on Ministers to step up to their responsibilities and take the swift action necessary to address the injustice inflicted by acts of maladministration the last time they were in government.”
Helen Whately MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said:
“It’s no surprise that Labour have broken the promises they made to WASPI women in opposition. “Yet again, they said one thing to get elected and are now doing another. Just like they had ‘no plans’ to take the Winter Fuel Payment from 10 million pensioners. They shouldn ’ t expect to get away with this hypocrisy. “Instead of trying to blame their decisions on everyone else, for once they should own the choice tha t they’ve made.”
