DWP has suggested women affected by State Pension age changes get help to ‘retrain, return to or progress in work’. The Conservative MP Sir John Hayes has urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to consider creating a “hardship fund for women affected by the change to the State Pension age”. However, Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds said that the “best way to support people, including women who have been affected by the change to the State Pension Age is to help them to retrain, return to or progress in work”.
In a written response to Sir John earlier this week, she added: “For those women who are unable to work but who are not eligible for pensioner benefits because of their age, financial support is still available through the welfare system.” So-called WASPI women (Women Against State Pension Inequality) have been waiting since March to hear how the UK Government plans to address cross-party calls for compensation following recommendations made by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in its final report, published on March 21. The Ombudsman found that the DWP had been guilty of ‘maladministration’ by failing to let women know that their State Pension age was due to increase from 60 to 65, then 66.
Based on current Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, an estimated 3.5 million 1950s-born women have been affected by increases to the official age of retirement. The PHSO report stated that “Parliament must urgently identif.