Tories called on the government to set out a date for paying compensation to women who were not properly told their retirement age was changing.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told the Commons he will “fully and properly” respond to an ombudsman report recommending payouts of up to £3,000.
But he refused to guarantee the issue will be sorted out before the general election.
Mr Stride said a date is “not within my remit” adding: “I wouldn’t be absolutely certain that any particular date or autumn statement is pencilled in or otherwise.”
Mr Stride said the Government will “continue to engage fully and constructively” with Parliament and insisted it is “only right that we now fully and properly consider” the findings.
“This Government is committed to supporting pensioners in a sustainable way, providing them with a dignified retirement, whilst also being fair to them and to taxpayers,” Mr Stride added.
The ombudsman issued a damning report calling for some women born in the 1950s to be compensated after they were not properly told the age they could retire was rising.
It said the pensioners affected – known as Waspi women after the campaign Women Against State Pension Inequality – “lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances”.
But the ombudsman fears the Department for Work and Pensions will not pay up.
Conservative MP Nigel Mills, a member of the Work and Pensions Committee, told the Commons: “I think this issue has gone on long enough and we need now to choose a compensation scheme and get this issue finished.”
Tory Siobhan Baillie, who also sits on the committee, said: “At the heart of this is women saying they were left unable to plan or that their plans for the future were scuppered.
“So it is right that there’s a focus on laying out a timetable as soon as possible and we know that the issue of compensation is key to many of these women.”
