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Women’s State Pension Age
25 March 2024
Lead MP
Mel Stride
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
Benefits & WelfareStandards & Ethics
Other Contributors: 52
At a Glance
Mel Stride raised concerns about women’s state pension age in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
The minister provided an interim update on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s investigation into communication of state pension age changes to women born in the 1950s. He recognised the complexity of the issue, noting that it took over five years for the ombudsman to produce a final report covering decisions from 1995 onwards. The minister justified the decision to equalise the state pension age between men and women as maintaining balance between sustainability and fairness in retirement benefits. Despite criticism, he clarified that no financial loss was found to have been suffered directly due to DWP's communication methods. He stated that accurate information about changes was available through various channels, though individual notifications were delayed from 2005 to 2007. The minister also highlighted the Government’s commitment to pensioners, noting over £151 billion spent on support for pensioners in 2023-24 and a rise of 8.5% in basic and new state pensions due to the triple lock mechanism.
Liz Kendall
Lab
Leicester West
Question
When will a further update be provided after Easter recess? Labour members remember that the Pensions Act 2011 caused significant anger among women affected by changes to state pension age. The shadow asked about the Government’s assessment of internal research from 2004, total number of women potentially eligible for compensation, and whether longer notice periods should be considered.
Minister reply
The minister did not provide a specific timeline but committed to providing an update once the report's findings are fully considered. He defended the Pensions Act changes despite acknowledging past anger from affected groups.
Liz Kendall
Lab
Leicester West
Question
The ombudsman's report requires serious consideration, Labour Members will examine it carefully and listen respectfully. The shadow questions when the Government will update the House after Easter recess regarding state pension age changes and compensation for affected women.
Minister reply
The Minister assures there will be no undue delay in addressing the matter and emphasises full engagement with Parliament as shown by extensive cooperation with the ombudsman during their investigation.
Caroline Nokes
Con
Romsey and Southampton North
Question
Pressing for prompt action from the Government following the five-year wait for the ombudsman's report, questioning the need for a Select Committee inquiry before seeing action.
Minister reply
The Minister reassures that there will be no undue delay and acknowledges the detailed nature of the 100-page report necessitating proper consideration.
Question
Critiques Labour's response as inadequate, emphasising the damning verdict of the ombudsman’s report and demanding financial redress for WASPI women.
Minister reply
The Minister emphasises the need to carefully consider the detailed 100-page report before taking action. He also highlights recent improvements in pension benefits provided by the Government.
Question
Asks for a timetable and clear expectations regarding compensation, acknowledging the need for careful consideration but urging prompt management of affected women’s expectations.
Minister reply
The Minister assures there will be no undue delay in addressing the matter while emphasising the importance of thorough examination of the report's findings.
Stephen Timms
Lab
East Ham
Question
Does the Secretary of State agree with the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee that those affected should not have to wait for the outcome of a Select Committee inquiry before learning the Government’s response? The equalisation of the state pension age was legislated for in 1995, giving 15 years’ notice to those affected. The 2011 changes gave much less than 10 years’ notice. Is one of the lessons about what has gone wrong that we must ensure major changes provide at least 10 years’ notice?
Minister reply
The right hon. Gentleman raises the potential role of Select Committees in these matters. The Department will seriously consider the findings before coming to conclusions and presenting them in the House.
Question
Having seen the report, I think this issue has gone on long enough and we now need to choose a compensation scheme and get it finished. Will the Government make their mind up before the autumn fiscal event?
Minister reply
Whether there will be an autumn statement at all is not within my remit. The most important thing is that there should be no undue delay in coming to appropriate conclusions on this matter.
Battersea
Question
The WASPI scandal has been a huge injustice for millions of women, including women in my constituency. The Secretary of State should make an unambiguous commitment to compensation for these women. Will the Secretary of State today set out a timeline for when he will come back to this House and say how he intends to ensure that these women are compensated fully?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady is attempting to draw me into coming to premature conclusions on some of the findings in the report, which I am afraid I not going to do. There will be no undue delay.
Question
My right hon. Friend agrees that a failure by Government to comply with recommendations would be almost completely unprecedented and would undermine an integral part of our system of democratic checks and balances. Will he confirm that his Department will work in full haste with Parliament to agree a mechanism for remedy?
Minister reply
At the heart of this matter is the imperative to ensure that we fully and carefully examine the findings contained in the report. I assure my hon. Friend that we will engage fully and constructively with Parliament on these matters.
South Shields
Question
Women born in the 1950s entered into a contract with the state, but the coalition Government reneged on that, denying them their pensions. Since the ombudsman’s report, over 100 have passed away and many continue to live in poverty. Will the Secretary of State apologise for their long wait for justice?
Minister reply
On the Pensions Act 2011, as the hon. Lady will know from the report, the window that has been particularly examined and on which these considerations turn is 2005 to 2007—a time when the Labour party was in office.
Jeremy Wright
Con
Kenilworth and Southam
Question
My right hon. Friend refers to the complexity of this situation, where these women have suffered the loss of an opportunity to plan appropriately for their futures. Can he say anything about the work his Department will do to think about the appropriate remedy in such diverse circumstances?
Minister reply
My right hon. and learned Friend is right to refer to the complexities around this issue. The High Court could treat as a matter of fact that there has been adequate and reasonable notification given by the Department over a number of years.
Question
Returning to maladministration, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s stage 1 report found clear maladministration in 2021 in the way that the DWP communicated those changes. Will the Minister finally admit to the DWP’s failings that short-changed hundreds of thousands of 1950s WASPI women?
Minister reply
Without being drawn into too much detail around the report, there is clearly an important distinction between those matters that have been found to be maladministration and those that have led to injustice.
Question
My constituents who were affected wish, quite reasonably, to have a similar degree of clarity on the next steps and timescale. I understand he will not set out that timescale today, but can he reassure the House that he has in his mind a timescale for these next steps?
Minister reply
As I have said, there should be no undue delay, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right that clarity is what is required. That is why I am stressing the point that clarity comes with careful consideration.
Question
I pay tribute to all WASPI campaigners and stand in solidarity with them. The treatment of 1950s-born women has led to great hardship for many. It is estimated that some 270,000 WASPI women have died since the start of the campaign in 2015 and that another dies every 13 minutes. Will he return to this House immediately after recess with a firm commitment to fast and fair compensation?
Minister reply
I think we owe it to all of those to whom the hon. Lady refers to act without undue delay—that is a commitment that I have made—and to look at these matters extremely carefully.
Question
I welcome today’s statement, and am very grateful for it. Having received a lot of correspondence from my Bracknell constituents, let me ask a very objective question: does he have a personal message for those seeking a definitive outcome?
Minister reply
I think my statement is the message. We recognise that these are complicated issues. We will study the report’s findings very carefully and engage with Parliament constructively.
Question
The Royal Society for the Relief of Indigent Gentlewomen of Scotland sounds entirely otherworldly, but that was not the case for the WASPI woman who came to my surgery in 2016. She retired expecting to get her state pension at 60 and had to apply for relief because she could not afford her retirement. What remedies for compensation do the Government consider suitable for that constituent, and others of mine, and when will they receive them?
Minister reply
The example once again underlines in my mind the importance of proceeding with great diligence and looking at the findings of the report in great detail.
Question
I add my voice to those calling for an urgent announcement of a redress scheme in response to the report. The Secretary of State rightly pointed out that the actions between 2005 and 2007 did not happen on his watch, or under any Conservative Government, but if he delays, he will stop being part of the solution and start to become part of the problem. When he introduces his redress scheme, he will need all the understanding and good will on both sides of the House that he can muster to deal with the undoubted complexities of distinguishing between the different kinds and levels of indirect loss in the report, so speed is vital.
Minister reply
As my hon. Friend points out, the timing is important. I have made the commitment that we will proceed without undue delay.
Question
Millions of women have suffered an injustice, including more than 200,000 in Wales and 4,000 in my constituency of Cynon Valley. While much of the ombudsman’s report is welcome, the compensation remedy is insufficient—indeed, it is insulting. In 2019, the Labour party pledged an average payment of £15,500. It is affordable, and the Government have saved in the region of £200 billion since the equalisation of the state pension age, yet they still have not pledged anything at all. Will the Minister please set a specific timeline so that we can have an urgent parliamentary process for MPs to set a compensation scheme that will give fair, appropriate and fast compensation to these women?
Minister reply
On the timing, I have now given this reply from the Dispatch Box on several occasions: there will be no undue delay. On the specific matter that the hon. Lady raises relating to remedy, that is one of the findings within the report that, along with all the others, we will consider very carefully.
Question
The Secretary of State is right to highlight the commitment to the triple lock, that the state pension will rise by some £900 this year, and that there are fewer people in pensioner poverty than ever before. Nevertheless, does he accept that hardship has been caused, both to WASPI women on the Isle of Wight and nationally, and that a solution, while it clearly needs to be affordable, is needed to right a wrong that has taken place?
Minister reply
Reaching the clarity that my hon. Friend would like requires us to have a close and careful look at the report, as I have been setting out. We will do that as quickly as we can—we will not introduce any undue delays—and consult Parliament in an appropriate manner, as we did with the ombudsman.
Question
The WASPI women have been screwed over by the state and made to wait for years. Can the Secretary of State guarantee the 6,500 WASPI women in my constituency and those across the UK that he will not kick the can down the road past the next election and pass the buck to the Labour party? It is not good enough to stand in solidarity but take no action.
Minister reply
On the question of time, I have made the position extremely clear. On the question of the report having had to gestate for five years, there was a delay of around two years because of the judicial review that went on in the middle of that process, so to suggest that the Government have in any way been holding things up is not fair or accurate.
Question
I thank my right hon. Friend for coming swiftly to the House in the wake of the ombudsman’s important report, which requires a response. I pay tribute to the 4,000 WASPI women in my constituency who have been affected by the change. Although I welcome the pension reforms outlined, it is worth remembering that 68% of women born in the 1950s have relied on the state pension, as opposed to 44% of their male counterparts, because of baked-in inequalities they experienced in much younger years: starting work before equalities legislation; not being able to join pension schemes back in the day; and making definite choices about caring responsibilities. For all those reasons, I see real injustice in this case. When he talks us through how this will be dealt with in Parliament, I hope to hear that there will be a role for individual MPs who have worked closely with their WASPI women to make representations on their behalf.
Minister reply
I can assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to engage closely with Parliament, as we have done to date and with the ombudsman. She quite reasonably raises gender pension gaps. This Government have brought in automatic enrolment—we have consulted on further changes—which has led to a narrowing of the gap.
Tan Dhesi
Lab
Slough
Question
The WASPI women in Slough and across our country have been campaigning courageously and consistently for their rights for years. It is the Government’s duty to set out exactly how they will help those women and deliver justice. Given that someone’s entitlement to the state pension depends on how many years they have paid national insurance contributions, what will happen under the Chancellor’s plans to abolish NICs to those who are yet to retire? Will they still receive the state pension to which they have been contributing?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is a very assiduous and sensible person, and will know that party politics are at play in this issue. The Chancellor has been extremely clear that it is an aspiration to further bring down the level of national insurance across time—across several years, maybe even going beyond the next Parliament.
Question
Given the demographics in North Norfolk, I probably have one of the most impacted constituencies in the country: over 5,000 WASPI women have been impacted there. We need to be sensible. We all recognise the financial climate that we are dealing with in this country, but the Secretary of State is a very decent man, and this weekend, the Prime Minister intimated that we have always tried to right injustices in this country. WASPI women will be watching this debate; can the Secretary of State at least throw them a lifeline from the Dispatch Box, and give some sort of commitment that we in this country will do everything we possibly can to support as many WASPI women who have been impacted as we can?
Minister reply
The important point is that we must carefully consider the report in its entirety—not just one aspect of it, but all aspects. I have undertaken to the House to do that without undue delay.
Question
The ombudsperson was established to decide when things were not necessarily illegal, but had been done in a way that involved malpractice and was wrong. The ombudsperson has now said: their judgment is clear that maladministration happened. Will the Minister apologise on behalf of the Department for the maladministration? Also, will he at least commit to a remedy?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman suggests that we are hiding behind the court cases. I have explained the relevance of those cases and the conclusions to which both the High Court and the Court of Appeal came in 2019 and 2020. We are not hiding behind anything; in fact, as the hon. Gentleman knows, because I read out the quote earlier, on Thursday 21 March—the chief executive of the ombudsman said on Sky News: “The Government, the DWP, completely co-operated with our report, with our investigation...”
Question
WASPI women in my constituency have campaigned relentlessly for many years. WASPI women are watching this debate, and when the Minister says that the Government will carefully consider things, they hear, “More delay.” When will they receive their money?
Minister reply
Given that the report was published as recently as last Thursday, it is a bit of a stretch to suggest that I should have come to this Dispatch Box with a fully formed set of proposals. We are right to look at the report very carefully and engage closely with Parliament.
Richard Burgon
Lab
Leeds East
Question
The Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to even acknowledge the injustice done to thousands of innocent postmasters. This, too, is an incredible injustice. Millions of women born in the 1950s have been betrayed. Some 3.5 million women have been affected; one dies every 13 minutes, and we have been in this Chamber for an hour. Some 28,000 people have signed the letter from the WASPI campaign to the Leader of the House asking for an urgent debate and series of votes on compensation options, including that proposed by the all-party parliamentary group on this issue. This injustice cannot carry on any longer. When will we get a debate on the issue, and a vote on proper compensation packages?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman has been here long enough to know that he should not ask me questions at the Dispatch Box about when debates may or may not occur; those matters are typically handled by the usual channels. Many of these things will be a matter for Parliament, rather than the Government.
Tim Farron
Lib Dem
Westmorland and Lonsdale
Question
Asked the Secretary of State to acknowledge that women have lost out due to changes in pension age, despite his earlier statement suggesting otherwise. Called for an apology and compensation as recommended by the ombudsman’s report.
Minister reply
Responded that the conclusion drawn by the ombudsman was there had been no direct loss and that the report has only just been published on Thursday, requiring detailed consideration.
Tahir Ali
Lab
Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley
Question
Asked for a timeline to compensate WASPI women in his constituency of Birmingham, Hall Green.
Minister reply
Stated that there is no desire to delay matters but that the report needs careful consideration.
Jeremy Corbyn
Ind
Islington North
Question
Asked for a straightforward answer on when women affected by pension age changes can receive compensation.
Minister reply
Replied that it is another version of the timing question and provided a consistent answer about careful consideration.
Diana R. Johnson
Lab
Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham
Question
Asked if the Government would support an amendment in Parliament to implement ombudsman recommendations.
Minister reply
Said it would be a stretch to comment on or support an unknown amendment to an unknown Bill.
Question
Asked for assurance that Government Ministers will not muddy the waters by referring back to unsuccessful litigation when discussing WASPI issues.
Minister reply
Rejected the suggestion, stating that legal matters relating to the High Court and Court of Appeal are still relevant.
Justin Madders
Lab
Ellesmere Port and Bromborough
Question
Asked if contingency funding had been set aside for potential compensation as anticipated by the Department.
Minister reply
Declined to form conclusions prematurely, emphasising the need for careful study of the complex report.
Question
Expressed disappointment with the Secretary of State's statement and urged immediate compensation to avoid further hardship and deaths.
Minister reply
Reassured that the situation is being taken seriously, engagement will be appropriate with Parliament, and there will be no undue delay.
Nia Griffith
Lab
Llanelli
Question
Asked for a more precise timeline than 'no undue delay' in response to the ombudsman’s report.
Minister reply
Reiterated that there will be no undue delay and engagement with Parliament will be appropriate.
Question
Called for a clear statement on when the Government would respond properly, emphasising consensus for compensation.
Minister reply
Acknowledged the findings of the report but emphasised the need to look at many questions carefully before responding appropriately.
Question
Reiterated calls for a clear timeline on when a full statement would be issued regarding compensation.
Minister reply
Replied that the report was published recently and needs careful consideration, with no undue delay in the process.
Question
The Secretary of State talks about time, but it is nearly a decade since the start of the WASPI campaign, which has included rallies, protests, court cases, thousands of meetings to lobby MPs, and 273,000 women dying. Those who remain can perhaps see some light at the end of the tunnel. Is the Secretary of State really going to ask them to wait just a little longer?
Minister reply
Given that we have not yet responded to the findings of the ombudsman, for the reasons that I gave—this needs to be done in a diligent and careful manner—I am not sure that the hon. Member’s assertion holds water. The report was five years in the making. It covers highly complex matters, and many questions are raised as a consequence.
Salford
Question
The issue now is not whether those women faced injustice, because the report makes it clear that they did, that they are entitled to urgent compensation from the Government, and that Parliament must “identify a mechanism” for providing appropriate redress. Will the Secretary of State allay my concerns that he is not proposing to question the ombudsman’s findings?
Minister reply
We are considering the findings, which need to be considered in their entirety in order to come to a view.
Question
Surely, the Secretary of State accepts that it is unacceptable in 2024 that women continue to experience inequality in lifetime savings. Women would need to work an additional 19 years to have the same pension savings as men. When will they get justice and equal treatment?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman concludes by asking the same question that has been asked many times. There will be no undue delay. We will look at the issues, including some of the points that he has raised, in the round, looking at the entirety of the report and all its points and conclusions.
Hayes and Harlington
Question
The report is absolutely clear that the DWP’s systemic failure is that it did not even draw upon and learn from its own research into the failure of communication with those women. In addition, it did not investigate properly and respond to the complaints. That is straightforward in the report.
Minister reply
The right hon. Gentleman refers to one part of the report’s findings, where the ombudsman found maladministration but did not find injustice. The point that I have made to others in the House is that we need to look at this report properly.
Question
Nationally, 270,000 women have died without ever receiving an apology, justice or compensation. Will the Secretary of State commit to giving due consideration to compensating not only eligible women still living, but the relatives of those who have died while awaiting justice?
Minister reply
I listened to the hon. Gentleman extremely carefully, and I think we owe it to all those to whom he referred and those who may be in a similar situation to take this matter extremely seriously.
Imran Hussain
Lab
Bradford East
Question
He keeps talking about its complexities, but one simple finding at its heart is that this Government and this Parliament must remedy the grave injustices against the thousands of WASPI women in my constituency, and up and down this country. Will he at least accept that every time a Minister stands up and says “undue delay” or “due process” they really mean that they have no intention of addressing the problem?
Minister reply
No, I do not accept that.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
Many grandmothers have gone on to care for elderly parents or provide unpaid support so that their daughters and sons can return to work in support of the UK economy. Time is not on the side of the WASPI women. They need restitution, apologies and compensation.
Minister reply
I certainly accept that we need to proceed in a manner that does not delay matters, for the reasons that the hon. Gentleman has given.
Grahame Morris
Lab
Easington
Question
To say the Secretary of State will have disappointed the 5,000 WASPI women in my constituency and the many tens of thousands across the north-east would be an understatement. Frankly, the Minister’s response is shameful.
Minister reply
The answer on timing is the same one that I have given consistently throughout this statement.
Brendan O'Hara
SNP
Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
Question
Despite how the Minister might wish to spin it, the ombudsman’s report was absolutely damning, totally vindicating the WASPI women and their campaign. My hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun has a private Member’s Bill that would require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for a compensation scheme for WASPI women.
Minister reply
I am not familiar with all the details of the private Member’s Bill to which the hon. Gentleman refers.
Rupa Huq
Lab
Ealing Central and Acton
Question
The WASPI website has a grim counter of affected women’s deaths and of money saved by the Treasury. The current figures are 273,000-plus women and well over £4 billion. They are rising by the minute. How far have the consequences of the Government’s 2022 disastrous mini-Budget affected their thinking on this matter? If the Secretary of State will not commit to full level 6 compensation, as the ombudsman recommends, what does he have to offer Linda Gregory, my constituent born in 1953?
Minister reply
With great respect to the hon. Lady, her question perfectly exemplifies why it is important to look at the detail of the report. She refers to the ombudsman recommending full level 6 compensation, but it is actually level 4, the range between £1,000 and £2,950.
Question
Sadly, we have had a reprise of known facts, not the resolution of a manifest wrong. Governments frequently have to address the faults and failings of their predecessors, of whatever political hue. That is called the responsibility of being in office and it is part of the privilege of governing. Equally, we have to remember that when there is an institutional failure that goes across political parties and Government institutions, we have independent bodies, such as an ombudsman, to address it. In those circumstances, will the Minister first of all accept that there has been a manifest wrong and injustice, and secondly, will he commit that he will not, under any circumstances, seek to undermine the decision of the ombudsman or the direction of travel he has embarked upon?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that there is a very specific purpose for an ombudsman, as indeed there is for this ombudsman. What I think is unreasonable is to take the step in logic from that to saying that one should just simply, within a matter of hours, stand up and accept everything the ombudsman has put forward.
Chris Law
SNP
Dundee Central
Question
WASPI women in my constituency simply cannot wait. In fact, as we have heard across the House, there is not a single constituency where WASPI women can wait. There is a simple reason for that: 40,000 of them are dying every year. Over a quarter of a million have died over the 10-year campaign. Not once have they had an apology or received any justice—and they have certainly received no compensation. When the PHSO report was published, both the UK Government and the Labour party deliberately failed to answer and fully guarantee that full justice and full compensation would be delivered to the WASPI women. The simple question, which the Secretary of State has failed to answer so far, is this: can he give us a timeframe by which he will deliver an apology, justice and compensation?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman has been in the Chamber, I think, since the beginning of the statement—I am sure he has; he heard the statement, hence he is asking a question—and he will know that the question he asked has been asked now probably a couple of dozen times. The answer is the same.
Question
Some 6,900 WASPI women in my constituency, some of whom have lost out by as much as £60,000 and many of them in dire need of compensation, will have found little encouragement in the Minister’s statement. Is it this Government’s policy to dither, delay and deny justice until the 1950s-born women have died off?
Minister reply
I can give a very short answer to that: absolutely not.
Question
The WASPI campaign has been conducted with great dignity. They have lobbied and informed all of us. Will the outgoing Government and the incoming Government show these women the respect they are due and commit to paying compensation? I am not even asking for a timetable—just a commitment to paying compensation.
Minister reply
What I am not really clear about is why the hon. Gentleman is urging me and the Government to draw a premature conclusion on the basis of—the report arrived on Thursday. It is now Monday, very early evening. It is complicated, so it is absolutely right and proper that we look at it very carefully and in great detail.
Question
The expression “Justice delayed is justice denied” has never seemed more appropriate, with so many thousands of WASPI women waiting for justice to be delivered and dying in the process. It is not just the five years waiting for the ombudsman’s report, but the years before that jumping through the hoops of the DWP complaints process and the independent case examiner. As well as delivering swift compensation, will the Secretary of State’s Government look at fixing the system that has delayed, for the best part of a decade, the delivery of justice for WASPI women?
Minister reply
We will look closely at the report and we will, no doubt, draw many conclusions as a result of that process of careful examination of the findings and the points made within the report. My commitment to the House is that we will do that without undue delay and that we will also engage appropriately with Parliament as part of that approach.
Shadow Comment
Liz Kendall
Shadow Comment
The shadow Secretary of State thanked the minister for his statement and acknowledged the seriousness of the ombudsman’s report, which she said requires careful consideration. She questioned when a further update would be provided after the Easter recess, highlighting the contentious Pensions Act 2011 under George Osborne, which Labour had sought to amend. Liz Kendall inquired about the number of women affected by the communication issues and those potentially eligible for compensation based on the ombudsman’s report. She also raised concerns over why changes proceeded despite known problems with communication and asked if a longer notice period than 10 years might be more effective. The Labour shadow expressed her party's commitment to ensuring timely and tailored information about future pension age changes, urging the Government to do the same and lay relevant documents in Parliament for transparency.
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