Calls for DWP boss to meet WASPI to discuss State Pension age report

MP George Galloway is calling on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to meet with Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) representatives in view of a recent report. This report, finalised by the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO) on March 21, found that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) did a poor job communicating changes to the State Pension age to women.

As a result, those impacted could be entitled to compensation. The PHSO called on Parliament to "act swiftly" and set up a compensation scheme, recommending an equivalent redress to Level 4 on its compensation banding scale, or between £1,000 and £2,950.

However, both the WASPI campaign and some MPs are pressing for the top-level award (Level six), which starts at £10,000.

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Last week, the recently elected MP for Rochdale penned a letter to Mel Stride urging him to confer with the WASPI campaigners regarding the report's findings. Although Stride addressed the PHSO publication in Parliament on March 25, he stated his inability to comment on the findings until the comprehensive, 100-page document and accompanying recommendations had been fully digested.

In an official correspondence, the DWP Pensions Minister, Paul Maynard MP, stated: "In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.", reports the Daily Record.

The same response was given by Mr Maynard to Labour MP Stephen Morgan when questioned about the DWP's planned timetable in responding to the PHSO's final report.

Tomorrow (May 7), leading figures from the WASPI Campaign will voice their evidence concerning the PHSO report to the Work and Pensions Committee. These include WASPI Chair Angela Madden and the Campaign Director Jane Cowley, who are projected to communicate the practical impact of the report findings to the cross-party assembly of MPs headed by Labour MP Sir Stephen Timms.

Additional contributors to the first session scheduled for Tuesday include Rebecca Long-Bailey, Chair of the All Party Group on State Pension Inequality for Women, and Co-Chair Peter Aldous MP. With a scheduled duration from 12.05pm to 1pm, this shall be succeeded by the interim testimony by the interim Ombudsman at the PHSO Rebecca Hilsenrath and Karl Bannister, PHSO's Director of Legal and Casework.

This can be viewed live on Parliament TV. SNP MP Patricia Gibson recently confirmed that a debate and vote are set to occur in Parliament on Thursday, May 16.

The North Ayrshire and Arran MP submitted an Early Day Motion to the Backbench Business Committee last month, with the hope that the debate will at least result in an agreement, through a vote, that compensation should be given to the women affected by the changes.

Ms Gibson also confirmed that the debate is scheduled for the afternoon and encouraged her social media followers to request their MPs to attend.

Additionally, another SNP MP, Alan Brown, was expected to have the second reading of his State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill heard on April 19, but it has been postponed to Friday, May 17.