WASPI compensation update as major debate date confirmed | Personal Finance | Finance
Calls are growing for compensation for the WASPI generation of women as a debate on the issue is to take place in Parliament in two weeks’ time.
MPs backing the WASPI (Women against state pension inequality) cause secured the debate from the Backbench Business Committee.
SNP MP Patricia Gibson said in a tweet: “My debate application and vote to progress matters and the need to accept @PHSOmbudsman report on the injustice inflicted on 1950s-born @WASPI_Campaign born in the 1950s, is scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 16th May. Ask your MP to attend.”
She said previously there was “frustration and anger” among WASPI campaigners that neither the Conservatives nor Labour had pledged any action.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published a report in March calling for compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950, and calling on Parliament to take up the issue.
Ms Gibson said when presenting the request for the debate: “This is an issue that the House has to debate.
“We cannot allow it to be the case that WASPI women have won the battle but don’t get the spoils of war.
“There’ll be different views across the house as to what that compensation might look like, and that’s all part of the debate.
“But I think the principle for compensation has to be established, and it has to be established quickly, because the longer this report goes unanswered, the more despair is setting in.”
A cross-party group of MPs are calling for compensation with some calling for payouts of £10,000 or more.
Conservative MP John Penrose said: “It is essential that the women who’ve been affected get proper compensation.
“There probably won’t be a single amount that everybody should get because the Ombudsman makes clear there are many different types of cases where women experienced different levels of injustice.”
The representative said he has been contacted by many constituents to voice their concerns about the WASPI cause but that he would be pushing for compensation in any case, as “it’s the right thing to do”.
He said: “Everyone understands that finding a fair answer won’t be easy, because the Ombudsman says it’s a complex picture where women experienced different levels of injustice.
“So I don’t envy ministers having to work out an answer, but we can’t let that become an excuse for foot-dragging. We need action and we need it now.”
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