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HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportIt is true this was a long-running issue, spanning multiple Parliaments, that was delivered to the last Government, and we have dealt with it. We have dealt with it seriously, but…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportNo.17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportAs I said in my statement, I understand that many women born in the 1950s face a real struggle and, on this specific decision, they may well be disappointed, but our commitment to…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportMy party opposed the Conservatives’ decision to accelerate increases in the state pension age, but that is not what the report is about. It is about how those changes were…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI am sure the right hon. Gentleman could have encouraged his party to do a compensation scheme when he was in government. The reason the ombudsman actually referred the report to…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportWe do not agree with the ombudsman’s approach to injustice or compensation. We do not believe that sending those letters earlier, even though we should have done, would have made…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI am proud of the last Labour Government’s record on helping the lowest-paid women pensioners and of the improvements that we delivered. This is not about that issue; this is…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportThe pension schemes Bill will do precisely that. One of the really important things that we want to do is to consolidate smaller pension pots, so that they deliver better value…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI believe that this is a difficult decision, but the right and fair one. We accept that there has been maladministration. Once the Department had reached its decision, those…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI thank my hon. Friend for his question. It is most important, first, that in future people have proper notice of any changes to the state pension age so that they can properly…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI am happy to write to the right hon. Gentleman about this research and its findings, which are robust. I reflect on the fact that three of the sample cases that the ombudsman…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportWe did campaign against the acceleration of changes to the state pension age brought forward by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government, but that is not what this decision is…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportNo, I do not agree with that. It was only when we got into government that we were able to see all the information and advice provided by the Department. I did not go into it in…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportWith permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman into the way that changes in the state pension…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI welcome the overall tone of the hon. Lady’s comments. I am glad that she is finally considering her party’s response to the ombudsman’s report, and I am sure that the whole…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI can assure my hon. Friend’s constituents in Clwyd North that we want to learn all the lessons from the maladministration that we accept took place. We have to get people timely,…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI gently say to the hon. Gentleman, who I know was not in the House at the time, that the decision to accelerate the increase in the state pension age in 2011 was taken by the…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI understand the concerns that my hon. Friend raises, but I reiterate the findings from the ombudsman’s report that there was no direct financial loss. We agree that those letters…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportWe do indeed take responsibility for the maladministration between 2004 and 2007 and a 28-month delay in sending the letters out. I want to reiterate to my hon. Friend and to the…17 Dec 2024HANSARDWomen’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO ReportI met the WASPI campaign in opposition when I was appointed shadow Work and Pensions Minister. The Minister for Pensions was the first of her kind to meet the WASPI campaign for…17 Dec 2024