The Treasury will not take independent action to compensate women affected by state pension age changes until the UK Government makes a decision,.
Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson confirmed the stance in Keys earlier this week.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign has fought for justice for women born in the 1950s who were impacted by the UK’s state pension reforms.
The UK’s Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recently found that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had failed to provide adequate and timely information about these changes, resulting in financial hardship for many.
However, the Treasury Minister emphasised that the Isle of Man is not in the same position as the UK.
Campaign
Dr Allinson said: “We have followed developments in the WASPI campaign for years. But our Social Security Division ensured effective communication regarding changes to women’s state pension age.”
He pointed to the Isle of Man’s proactive approach to informing women of pension changes under the Pensions Acts of 1995, 1997, and 2011.
While the UK Ombudsman highlighted DWP maladministration in handling complaints, he maintained that no such concerns had been raised on the island.
“The Ombudsman found that while information was available, too many did not fully understand how it affected them,” he said. “That was not the case here.”
Compensation
Pressed on whether the Isle of Man Treasury would compensate affected women if Westminster acted, the Minister did not rule it out but remained non-committal.
Julie Edge asked: “If Westminster were to allocate funds to WASPI women, would the Minister use equality legislation to withhold that from Isle of Man residents?’
A claim the minister denied.
Further questioned on whether an equality impact assessment had been conducted regarding potential compensation costs, the minister acknowledged that the issue had been raised before but offered no new details.
“This was discussed in 2019 when the then-Treasury Minister confirmed no clear correlation with the UK’s situation,” he noted.
With Westminster yet to hold a parliamentary debate on the matter, the Treasury Minister made it clear: the Isle of Man will not act ahead of the UK.
“We’re monitoring the situation, but no complaints have been raised with our own Ombudsman,” he added “There is no plan to take action before Westminster does.”
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