Matt Vickers MP made a speech in the House of Commons on the 16th May standing up for Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), urging the Government to act upon the report published by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and to implement a swift mechanism for compensation.
Following a report by the PHSO, the DWP was found to have performed maladministration in its communications of changes made to women's state pension age and that this maladministration led to a delay of 28 months before the DWP wrote directly to affected women about the changes to their state pension age.
In 2021 the WASPI group estimated over 6,180 women in Stockton South and over 160,000 women in the North East were affected by increases to women's state pension age.
Within their report, the PHSO asked Parliament to identify a mechanism for providing an appropriate remedy for this maladministration, and Matt Vickers MP urged the government to act upon the report as quickly as possible to ensure WASPI women receive fair and fast compensation.
Matt Vickers, MP for Stockton South, said:
"I speak today on behalf of women across Stockton South affected by this issue, women who I come across every day in all corners of my constituency and in all walks of life, in fact even my own Mother is a WASPI woman."
“The ‘system’ that these women paid into all their lives was meant to provide them with comfort in retirement, they based their life plans around it and now the PHSO report confirms it was changed without adequate notice.”
"This has had a huge impact on those affected and their families, women who were affected lost the chance to make informed decisions about preparing for retirement, and I've heard stories of women who worked hard all their lives being forced to rely on help from their husbands or even their children."
For more information, you can find Matt Vickers MP's full speech in Parliament on his Facebook here.
