A Westminster Hall debate was held on Wednesday 15th January on compensation for women affected by changes to the State Pension age.

The debate opened with Sir John Hayes MP (Con, South Holland and The Deepings) lamenting the Government’s “betrayal of trust” over its decision to not compensate Waspi women. Pensions Minister Torsten Bell MP (Lab, Swansea West) responded that the decision was “based on evidence”. He added that his predecessor, Tulip Siddiq MP (Lab, Hamstead and Highgate), had met with WASPI Ltd, and had also considered the ombudsman’s investigations and reports “in detail”.

In doing so, he reiterated that “the report was not about the decision in 1995 to increase the state pension age for women… nor in 2011 to accelerate the increase”. The problem, he said, was not that an increase in age thresholds was the issue per se, but that letters should have gone out “28 months earlier”. 

The Minister added that, although the decision to not set up a compensation scheme was difficult and complex, research conducted in 2014 demonstrated that only one-in-four people open unsolicited mail – and that the Ombudsman had not sufficiently considered this. In addressing the “fairness” angle, he argued that “it is not reasonable – or fair – to use taxpayer money… to pay compensation to people whose circumstances would be the same today even if the maladministration had occurred”.

This debate was, as the chair, Dr Andrew Murrison MP (Con, South West Wiltshire), said, “massively oversubscribed.” Please follow this link to see a full list of speakers.