Members' Business — S6M-12612 Clare Haughey: WASPI PHSO Final Report Published

That the Parliament notes the findings from the UK Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) final report into the women’s State Pension age and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024; understands that the PHSO has made a finding of failings by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in this case, and has ruled that the women affected are owed compensation; believes that women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by accelerated changes to the State Pension age, under the Pensions Act 1995 and subsequent legislation, and that the changes were not adequately communicated to them; understands that the report finds that many 1950s-born women have experienced financial loss and a negative impact on their health, emotional wellbeing and home life as a result; further understands that around 3.6 million women are impacted, including an estimated 5,000 in the Rutherglen constituency; recognises that, in its stage one report published in 2021, the PHSO found "maladministration" on two counts, the first being in 2005 when the DWP failed to make a reasonable decision about targeting information to the women affected by these changes, and the second being when the DWP proposed, in 2006, writing to women individually to tell them about changes to the State Pension age, but reportedly failed to act promptly; regrets that, as per the findings in the final ombudsman report, the DWP has not acknowledged its failings nor put things right for those women affected, and that it has failed to offer any apology or explanation for its failings and has indicated that it will not compensate women affected by its failure; notes the reported comments by the PHSO chief executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath, that given the "significant concerns" that it has that the DWP will "fail to act on" its findings, and "given the need to make things right for the affected women as soon as possible" the PHSO has "proactively asked Parliament to intervene and hold the Department to account"; understands that the level of compensation recommended by the PHSO is between £1,000 and £2,950; notes, however, that in its submission to the PHSO, the UK Parliament's All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women argued for compensation at Level 6 on the PHSO scale, of £10,000 or more; pays tribute to what it considers to be the tenacity, commitment and resolve of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners who, it considers, despite experiencing what it sees as setback after setback from the UK Government, the PHSO, and in court, have never given up fighting for justice; highlights estimates from the WASPI campaign that, in the past nine years, an estimated 270,000 women impacted have sadly passed away without seeing proper compensation; believes that the WASPI activists have been vindicated in their lengthy campaigning for pensions justice by the PHSO’s findings, and notes the calls for the UK Government and UK Parliament to act swiftly and set up a fair compensation scheme without delay in order to resolve this long-standing issue.