I empathise with all the women born in the 1950s who had the rugged pulled from under them when it comes to their pensions.

People plan their futures around their pensions, and so to move the goal posts of when they can receive their state pension after so many years of work was cruel, it was also woefully mismanaged by the Government.

I have long supported the WASPI campaign’s proposed solution, for the government to introduce a ‘bridging pension’ to provide 1950s women with an income until they reach state pension age.  I also support enacting new legislation so that accrued pension rights cannot be changed again in the future.  

However, the government has rejected these proposals and has offered no support for the women that it has left in the lurch.  

I admire the determination of the WASPI campaigners in pursuing justice through various means, including taking the Government to the High Court to try to secure compensation for its handling of the pension age increase and how it has disproportionately harmed them. However, the court ruled against them.  

For a while now, we have been waiting for the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) to publish its report, in the hope that this would provide a pathway to justice and apply pressure on the Government to offer some form of compensation for the ‘maladministration’ over communicating the changes.  

The PHSO has now published its report and recommended pay-outs of between £1,000 and £2,950 to each woman.  Although this is well short of what was taken from them, this is at least some recompense for the damage caused by the Government’s actions. 

However, the PHSO notes that the Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it would “refuse to comply” with its recommendations.  The PHSO has described this as “unacceptable” and said that it was “taking the rare but necessary step of asking parliament to intervene”. 

As such, I have written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, and asked him to enact the report’s recommendations.  I have posted a copy of this letter below for you to see.

I can assure you that I will continue to press the Government to right the injustice that they have inflicted on 1950s women, including by paying the compensation that was recommended by the PHSO’s report. We must not let these women be forgotten.