Women's Pensions

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – in the Senedd at 2:25 pm on 1 March 2023.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 2:25, 1 March 2023

I declare an interest because my mother is one of the Women Against State Pension Inequality women. The WASPI women—women denied their pensions—have been campaigning for seven long years and still await the parliamentary ombudsman’s resolution report into the DWP’s handling of their situation. The report is due to be released very soon, but information that has reached the press has garnered significant concern that any compensation given to the women will be very little, reportedly just a few hundred pounds for all of the 1950s women. That is far short of what has been snatched from them. If these reports turn out to be true, it will represent a catastrophic injustice done to these women, discriminated against and targeted because of their gender and their age.

Can you please set out what your legal advice will be to the Welsh Government in these circumstances as to how they can support the WASPI women in their campaign? What routes of legal redress would there be for them? Could they legally challenge the ombudsman’s findings, and could you please release, Counsel General, all responses you’ve received to previous letters that you have sent to the UK Government about this campaign?