The government has “no plans to do anything further” in terms of providing greater relief for Waspi women, Pensions Minister Richard Harrington stated.

In a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons yesterday, 9 January 2017, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions was questioned what actions have been taken and what changes he proposes to assist Waspi women.

Harrington responded with: “The government has had £1.1bn transitional relief for Waspi women and this has been discussed many times and the government has no plans to do anything further to this respect.”

Furthermore, the Minister was also questioned about the omission of pensions in the ‘Ways to save in 2017’ infographic that was published last week.

“It is an absolute disgrace and confirms my fears that the government have downgraded the role of pensions and are using the gimmick of ISAs to distract from pensionable savings. Will the minister agree with me that pensionable savings is the best form of saving for retirement and will he publish a pension savings commission to ensure its dignity is protected,” Scottish National Party MP Ian Blackford questioned.

In response to the evidently missing emphasis or mention of pensions in the infographic, Harrington neglected a direct response, only stating: “I must totally disagree with the honourable gentleman’s analysis of the government’s reports for pensions. A lot of effort goes into communicating on TV and elsewhere about AE and it is one of the government’s great successes and the coalition before, and I hope that continues.”

He also noted that “the DWP continued to run a multichannel campaign to raise awareness of the new state pension, as well as directing to info on gov.uk” and that the check your state pension platform had received more than 2.1 million views.

In addition, Harrington also confirmed his support of the Financial Conduct Authority’s plans to tackle pension charges, transparency and competition in the asset management industry.

When asked whether he is committed to implementing the FCA’s recommendations from its report published in November, Harrington simply replied “yes”.

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