Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Morgan Excerpts

Monday 5th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove]

I thank the shadow Minister for raising the issue of Carolynne’s situation. I am, of course, under no illusions about how challenging many people are finding the current circumstances and climate. We are providing the package of support that I have already described—which is the right thing to do—in addition to the discretionary help that is there to address particularly pressing needs in individual cases. As the hon. Lady will know, the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement that as part of ongoing future work we would be considering, for instance, social tariffs, and I also want to look into what more we can do in the longer term to help families deal with continuing significant costs.

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

14. If he will take steps to compensate women born on or after 6 April 1950 affected by changes to the state pension age.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Laura Trott)]

State pension age equalisation and subsequent increases have been the policy of successive Governments. The phasing in of state pension age increases was agreed to by the hon. Lady’s party in 2011 and 2014.

[Helen Morgan]

Last July the pensions ombudsman concluded that the Government had been too slow to inform many women that they would be affected by the rising state pension age. Along with the cost of living crisis, this means that many of the WASPI women—Women Against State Pension Inequality—are struggling to get by, and it is one of the concerns most frequently raised in my weekly surgeries. I wonder whether the Secretary of State will commit himself to an interim payment for the women affected by the change in pension age while they wait for the release of the ombudsman’s final report.

[Laura Trott]

As the hon. Lady knows, the investigation is ongoing, so it would not be appropriate to take any further steps at this stage.