Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report

Debate between Vikki Slade and Liz Kendall

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

I am sure that there could be a vote in the Scottish Parliament if the SNP Government decided to do that.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I am shocked and staggered that the Secretary of State has made this decision in the week before Christmas—“Bah humbug,” springs to mind. She has talked several times about making sure people get due notice in the future. Does the Secretary of State have plans to increase the pension age further?

[Liz Kendall]

No. What I am saying is that we have to be able to give people sufficient notice in future. That was at the heart of the problem with the former Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition’s decision to accelerate the increase in the state pension age, which caused so much anger among many people. We campaigned against that, including in the 2019 election in which we proposed compensation, but we lost that election, and the courts have since ruled that that decision was legal. That is why the ombudsman’s report is not about that decision, but about how changes were communicated. We will learn all the lessons from that maladministration to make sure it does not happen in future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vikki Slade and Liz Kendall

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

My hon. Friend has raised these issues with me before, and I will absolutely meet children, families and child poverty organisations from her constituency. We aim to visit every region and every devolved nation as part of that strategy, and I look forward to meeting her and her constituents then.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T2. Data from Marie Curie suggests that 90,000 people die in poverty every year, many of them after a terminal diagnosis. Even with the help of the special rules system, there have been reports of terminally ill people facing mounds of red tape when trying to claim benefits. Is the Minister satisfied that the current 12-month limit on special rules is sufficient, and has she assessed how the current administrative burden on terminally ill people claiming benefits can be reduced?

[Liz Kendall]

The hon. Lady raises an extremely important question, which I have discussed with a hospice and other organisations such as Marie Curie and Sue Ryder in my own constituency. I want to look at how the system can be made to work as quickly and swiftly as possible, particularly for people at this very difficult time in life, and I would be happy for the Social Security Minister and my office to contact her directly to get more information.