Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to meet representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign to discuss the effect of 1995 and 2011 changes to women's state pension age.

There are no current plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign in the immediate future.

This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament, most recently in a Westminster Hall Debate on 5th July 2017 in which I stated I will be meeting the all-party parliamentary group when it is reformed.

In addition to the substantive debate on this issue, previous Ministers have met with WASPI representatives to discuss the effect of the 1995 and 2011 changes to women’s State Pension age. Baroness Ros Altmann and Shailesh Vara MP met with representatives of the WASPI group on 29th June 2016 to listen to their concerns.

This issue was also raised in a meeting on 23 November 2016 between the former Secretary of State Damian Green, the then Minister for Pensions Richard Harrington MP and representatives from the relevant All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

Following these meetings and debates, the government maintains the view that the 1995 and 2011 changes to State Pension age were necessary. We remain very clear that we will make no further changes to the State Pension age or pay financial redress in lieu of pension. Therefore the government believes that there is no value for either party in future meetings with representatives from the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.

A key priority for Government remains supporting individuals aged 50 years and over to return to and remain in the labour market, and tackling the barriers to them doing so. Since 2016 much work has been done to provide support back into employment, with 1.2 million over 65’s now in employment. In addition there is training and retraining, in many ways, as well as investment in lifelong learning and returnship schemes. We have also extended our network of older claimant champions to all 34 Jobcentre Plus districts to provide best practice and support to work coaches.