Shelagh from Solent Waspi, the local branch of the campaign group fighting for justice for all women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the State Pension Age, shares this latest news on behalf of the group. Ed
The All Party Parliamentary Group on the issue of 1950s Women’s State Pensions has sent a submission to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who is currently looking into injustice caused by the maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions.
They have accurately represented the picture.
WASPI warmly welcomes the submission
We thought it would be of interest, and are pleased to include a statement issued by WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality, below.
It speaks on behalf of Solent WASPI, which campaigns for thousands of affected women in South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight:
“WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality warmly welcomes the submission from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s State pensions (APPG), to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).
“The impact of DWP maladministration on 1950s-born women has been as devastating as it is widespread. The APPG believes that the case for category 6 injustice is overwhelming and clear.
“Women have had their emotional, physical, and mental circumstances totally obliterated by a lack of reasonable notice. These impacts must be addressed, if we are to reach any kind of conclusion regarding this injustice.”
Injustice met to some degree
The conclusion that “It is the belief of the APPG that all typologies of injustice have been met to some degree, and that in the cases of emotional, material, and physiological, they clearly fall within a category 6 injustice” matches what we as a Campaign have been saying for some time.
No time to make alternative arrangements
The PHSO reported in July 2021 that maladministration by the DWP was found regarding the lack of notice women received about an up to a six-year increase in their State Pension age. This left the women with no time to make alternative arrangements.
Level six is the highest level of compensation on the PHSO scale, and he can also recommend that women be put back in the financial situation they were in before the maladministration occurred.
Fair and fast compensation for the historic injustice needed
Shelagh Simmons, Solent WASPI Coordinator, added,
“We thank the APPG for this report. We have been campaigning for six years on this issue.
“It is time the Government accepted its failings and agreed fair and fast compensation for the historic injustice done to 1950s women on the Island and around the country.”
