Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now More than 41,000 people have signed an online petition created by Angela Madden, chair of the
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign, urging the Leader of the House of Commons to “urgently” give MPs the opportunity to debate and vote on compensation for women affected by changes to their State Pension age. Last week, the long-awaited Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) report found that thousands of women born in the 1950s may have been affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) failure to adequately inform them that the State Pension age was changing. The Ombudsman has now asked Parliament to identify a mechanism for providing appropriate remedy for those who have suffered injustice. The report issued last week said: “We think this will provide the quickest route to remedy for those who have suffered injustice because of DWP’s maladministration.” Read More Related Articles WASPI women call for £10,000 payout from DWP after State Pension age change investigation findings Read More Related Articles DWP urged to 'swiftly' help all the women it failed after changes to their State Pension age In the open letter to Penny Mordaunt MP, Ms Madden said: “The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has confirmed that WASPI women are due compensation. But the Department for 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.” The campaigner adds: “After all, with 3.5 million 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.” You can view the letter and track progress of the petition on the Change.org website here. Top Money Stories Today Full list of early bank holiday payments Basic State Pension back pay for women Full list ofAttendance Allowance rules Calls to scrap tax on State Pensions In a statement on Monday in the Commons on the PHSO’s 100-page report,
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride, said: “We continue to take the work of the Ombudsman very seriously and it is only right that we now fully and properly consider the findings and the details of what is a substantial document. “The Ombudsman has noted in his report the challenges and the complexities of this issue. “In laying the report before Parliament, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of the House and we will provide a further update to the House once we have considered the report’s findings.” Despite more than two dozen calls from MPs across the House to give some indication on when the
UK Government will respond to the recommendations in the PHSO’s report, the DWP boss would not be drawn into setting out any sort of timetable. However, he did say several times that there is “no desire to delay matters, and there will be no undue delays in our deliberations”. Responding to his statement, WASPI chairwoman Angela Madden said: “The Secretary of State now says this matter is so complex, he needs yet more months and years of head scratching to sort it out. He has made much of the report being 100 pages long as if he were being asked to digest War and Peace. “The fact it has taken five years for the Ombudsman to produce his conclusions is a pretty perverse reason to say more delay is now justified.” Latest State Pension News DWP boss statement on State Pension age Claim £600 heating help by March 31 New and Basic pay rates from next month Calls for £550 weekly State Pension soar She added: “The Commons must get a debate and vote on compensation as soon as possible after Easter.” Speaking to broadcasters over the weekend, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt denied pushing the decision aside for a future administration to deal with. He said the issue is “genuinely more complicated” than others in which compensation has been promised. Get the latest Record Money news Join the conversation on our Money Saving
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