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So-called Waspi women hit by big changes to the State Pension age may need a TV drama to “shame” the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) into making a claim for compensation, a senior MP has suggested. did.
SNP frontbench Patricia Gibson, speaking in the House of Commons, asked Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride whether the televised version was needed to “embarrass” the government with payments.
Some women affected by the pension changes said their experiences could be dramatized on the small screen after the ITV show. Mr Bates vs Post Office It sparked huge interest in the Horizon IT scandal.
Ministers refused to promise any compensation or any apology as they unveiled the government’s response to last week’s damning report by the official watchdog.
The Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman (PHSO) has accused the DWP of failing to properly inform women born in the 1950s that the state pension age would be raised from 60 to 65, and then to 66. was found to have committed a crime.
Mr Stride said only that DWP communications between 2005 and 2007 meant that women born in the 50s were told about their pension age “later than expected”.
The senior minister acknowledged there were “strong feelings” but said the government needed more time to consider the ombudsman’s report. “There has been no unreasonable delay in addressing this issue,” Stride said.
Ms Gibson, the SNP attorney general’s spokesperson, said Waspian women had been “abandoned and betrayed by this government and a future Labor government”.
She told the Commons: [Mr Stride] Tell the House what needs to be done to compensate these women. Do we need another TV drama to make them do the right thing and shame them? ”
The PHSO report recommends up to £2,950 for women who suffer a pension age change contact failure. But Women’s Campaign Against State Pension Inequalities (Waspi) is calling for at least £10,000 for each person affected.
Activists say a lack of information has led some women to quit their jobs, leaving them struggling financially as they don’t have enough money to support themselves in retirement.
Waspi campaign chair Angela Madden said: “The Secretary of State is now saying this is a very complex issue that will require many more months and years of brainstorming to resolve.” he said.
“He talks about much of the 100-page report as if he were being asked to summarize it.” war and peace”
The 70-year-old campaigner added: “The report is not complicated at all. The House of Commons must debate and vote on compensation as soon as possible after Easter.”
Several senior Tory MPs also called on Ms Stride to support adequate compensation for Waspi women during Monday’s debate.
Former Attorney General Jeremy Wright called it a “mismanagement.” [by the DWP] “There will always be consequences,” and “it should lead to some form of relief.”
Conservative MP Peter Aldous, vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Wasp Affairs (APPG), called on the government to “work fully and urgently with Parliament to agree a redress mechanism”.
Labor has been criticized by campaigners for avoiding any promise of compensation.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told MPs that Sir Keir Starmer’s party “will also consider the report carefully and will continue to listen respectfully to the views of those concerned.”