Age UK comment in response to the Ombudsman report on Waspi Women

 Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

"Now that the Ombudsman has finally concluded that mistakes were made and that the WASPI women were wronged, the Government should get on with swiftly implementing his recommendations and fairly compensating all those impacted who are still alive - for some sadly it is already too late. 

"It is astonishing that the Ombudsman is saying that he does not expect the Department for Work and Pensions to act on his report and is calling on Parliament to intervene. The WASPI women have waited for far too long already and it is unjust for their redress to be delayed any longer. 

"This is not the only example of the Government seemingly endlessly dragging its feet in situations when there have been clear findings of fault - there are parallels with the failure of the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which also impacts older people, as well as the Post Office and Contaminated blood scandals. 

"Polls suggest confidence in many of our public institutions is at an all time low; the Government should not further contribute to this widespread loss of faith by trying to ignore the Ombudsman's report, however financially challenging it may be. There can be no doubt now that these older women were wronged and deserve justice." 

-ENDS-