North Derbyshire WASPI chief's petition calls for urgent parliamentary debate on pension victims' compensation

Angela Madden, chair of WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), started the online petition through Change.org after both Labour and the Conservatives failed to commit to paying compensation, despite a damning report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) last month.

Angela, who lives near Chesterfield, said: “The Commons must urgently have the opportunity to debate and vote on their proposals, and any others that MPs wish to bring forward.

“After all, with 3.5m affected – and one dying every 13 minutes – everyone knows somebody who has been affected by the DWP’s incompetence and neglect of 1950s-born women.”

On March 25, Mel Stride MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, made a statement to the House of Commons regarding the PHSO’s final report, but did not commit to a timetable for addressing compensation. Parliament is currently on Easter recess until April 15.

So far, the petition has attracted 212,442 signatories. Supporters include Louise Buchanan who wrote: “The government have cheated women out of the pension they should have had at age 60. We have one of the lowest pensions in Europe and one of the highest age entitlement. When I started to work at sixteen my pension age was sixty. After more than 44 years of working I now still have to wait until I’m 67 years old to collect my pension. It’s a disgrace.”

The petition link is change.org/waspi-vote