WASPI : Gordon MP says UK Govt need to move quickly on compensation
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Gordon MP Richard Thomson has said the UK Government now need to move quickly on the issue of compensation following the publication today of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report into changes in the state pension age for women.
Mr Thomson, who has supported the WASPI campaign since becoming an MP, has pressed successive UK Pensions Ministers to put in place mechanisms to ensure swift payment of compensation to those affected as soon as possible on publication of the report.
The UK Government have refused to do so and the Ombudsman even goes so far to state that the “DWP has clearly indicated that it will refuse to comply” with the report’s findings.
Commenting, Richard Thomson MP said: “The Ombudsman’s report is a comprehensive vindication of the WASPI campaigners and I pay tribute to them for their efforts over many, many years to get us to this stage today.
“It is, however, absolutely outrageous that the UK Government through its Department for Work and Pensions have said it will refuse to comply with the Ombudsman’s findings. Not only is it failing to show due respect to the Ombudsman and due process, it is downright disrespectful to the women who have been so badly treated, many of them no longer with us to see this day.
“The UK Government should treat the publication of this report as another “ITV drama-documentary moment”. The plight of the sub-postmasters benefitted from the spotlight that programme shone on their maltreatment.
"This report shines a spotlight on the maladministration and failings of the DWP and the WASPI women must be compensated. If the UK Government won’t act then Parliament must do the right thing.”
Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin said:“This damning report has confirmed what we have known for years; WASPI women must be compensated. The UK Government must now intervene and ensure the Department of Work and Pensions compensates women who have been left financially worse off.
"I have heard many first-hand accounts of the real financial challenges women have faced. This cannot continue.
"The report has also found the DWP failed to inform women adequately despite assurances they had been. WASPI women should not have to wait for compensation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must act now.”
