Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Mel Stride

Monday 13th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

My right hon. Friend is, as always, absolutely right. We must have a system that targets the most vulnerable in society, and it must also be fair to the taxpayer, because that is part of what underpins the confidence that the public have in our welfare state—and that is worth preserving.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

T5. During the time for which the ombudsman’s report has been ongoing, 270,000 WASPI women have already passed away. How many more 1950s-born women in Lancashire will die before the Government finally act on the report’s recommendations?

[Mel Stride]

I have already replied to questions on that matter in this session. To reiterate, we are looking extremely carefully at what is a very complex report. It took the ombudsman five years or thereabouts to compile, and there will be no undue delay in our responding to it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Mel Stride

Monday 19th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)]

In-work progression is the best way of improving the earnings potential of those who are in work, which is why we are bringing hundreds of thousands more people into the kind of support that will develop that.

[Cat Smith]

I wonder whether the Secretary of State can support me with some casework that I am working on at the moment. My constituent is working a minimum wage job and tells me that she is frightened about what will happen. She is 68 years old, but due to errors in the state pension, she is not receiving that yet, and we are finding that there are permanent backlog pressures with the Pension Service. Can the Secretary of State help me get my 68-year-old constituent out of the in-work poverty bracket and receiving her state pension? I am happy to share the details of the case with the Secretary of State.

[Mel Stride]

If the hon. Lady would like to share those details with me, I will make sure that I and the Minister for Pensions, the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott) will have a close look at the case she raises.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Cat Smith and Mel Stride

Monday 5th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

The hon. Lady will know that the level of 25% she refers to has been decreasing through time; it was 40% not that long ago, then 30% and now it is 25%. It was paused altogether during the pandemic, and the experience then was that debt started to increase among claimants, in many cases in a way that was not helpful to the claimant. It is an important principle that, where people are in debt, we work with them to make sure we get them out of debt through time, but I accept that we need to do that with great care, hence the various elements of the process that I described earlier.

[Cat Smith (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

What measures are the Government taking to speed up repayments to the 200,000 pensioners who have yet to be compensated for the historical underpayments in the state pension?