WASPI campaigners have set out a plan for compensation before MPs in Parliament.
Members of the WASPI (Women against state pension inequality) campaign group told the politicians there could be two elements to the compensation.
This would include tiered compensation payments, with larger payouts for women who had to wait longer for their state pension, and a separate means to recuperate direct financial losses such as lost earnings.
The campaign group appeared before the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee to make their case.
Chairman of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on WASPI, Peter Aldous, SAID told the Committee: “There should be a bell curve where those who received least notice of longest delay get most and those who got the longest notice of a shorter increase should receive a lesser amount. That would be the approach I would suggest.”
Several MPs backing the WASPI cause previously spoke to Express.co.uk with some demanding compensation of £10,000 or more.
The campaign was given new hope in March, when a long-awaited report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said the women should get compensation, recommending payouts between £1,000 and £2,950.
Co-Chair of the APPG, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said: “There clearly has been direct financial loss to affected women. The PHSO has made its decision on direct loss based on its own guidance.
“That’s not statutory and therefore can be amended by Parliament. What WASPI is proposing would be a fair system, ensuring everyone affected gets something and those worst affected get most.”
Pensions secretary Mel Stride was asked about the question of compensation in an interview with LBC yesterday.
He said: “There has not been a response to the Ombudsman’s report yet from ourselves on the WASPI situation so I can’t really comment further than to say that.”
Gavin Newlands MP, vice-chair of the APPG on WASPI (Women against state pension inequality) told Express.co.uk previously there should be a vote in the Commons on compensation “as soon as possible”.
He said: “The Ombudsman was clear – compensation should be paid to the WASPI women who suffered due to the DWP’s maladminstration.
“It is disgraceful that it took so long to get to this point, and it is a tribute to the women who took their cases forward, including a constituent of mine in Paisley and Renfrewshire North, that they have stayed the course throughout.
“But what is equally disgraceful is the Government’s categoric statement that it will ignore the Ombudsman’s findings and refuse to comply with its recommendations, and the Labour opposition’s refusal to support compensation.”
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