A state pensioner has savaged Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride over the status of payments to the elderly as a DWP benefit in scathing comments.
The woman, named Avril, wrote to Mr Stride – who is her MP – to voice her fury and brand the classification “ridiculous”, she told LBC on Tuesday, April 9.
The 77-year-old told LBC’s Tom Swarbrick: “I said to him, this is ridiculous. It’s not a benefit, it’s something that we have paid in for. When I paid in for it, it was deemed a pension as a private pension, so you got it at the age you got it.”
It comes as Mr Stride was also criticised on Tuesday by WASPI campaigners in exclusive comments made to Express.co.uk which branded the Minister’s remarks on the reading of a recent Ombudsman’s report “ridiculous”.
A person typically needs 30 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full basic state pension, of £169.50 a week, or 35 years of contributions to get the full new state pension, of £203.85 a week.
DWP minister Mel Stride was quizzed about the question of compensation yesterday (April 8) with the politician refusing to commit to a timeframe for a decision on payouts.
Angela Madden, chair of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, told Express.co.uk: “The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride said on Monday morning the Government needs ‘sufficient time’ to react to the Ombudsman’s report.
“This is astounding considering the Government has had years to make preparations for these recommendations.”
