Fury as WASPI women hit by pension age rise denied payouts by Labour

By Bill Heaney

The Labour government cut its own throat today with their decision – opposed by many of their own politicians in deprived areas such as West Dunbartotonshire – to deny compensation to 3.8 million WASPI women for them having lost out on changes to the state pension age.

Women, who emotively chose to dress as Suffragettes during their campaign, reacted with fury to what they call Labour’s “unjustified” rejection of the compensation, a decision which comes on top of the UK government’s  refusal to withdraw the winter fuel allowance from pensioners and  limit the cap on child benefit to two children only.

Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie refused to tow the party line though. She told The Democrat: “I have been proud to support WASPI women and have worked very closely with those in my constituency who have been affected. I was also a former convener of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on WASPI women.

“I am clear that an injustice has been done to these women and, whilst the pension changes had an impact on all women,  some will have suffered severe detriment as a result.

“I understand the financial constraints under which the UK Government finds itself operating, however, I think a blanket approach which denies compensation to any women is wrong.

“It is my belief that a compromise could have been reached to assist those who have suffered the most.

“It is my job to stand up for my constituents and I have been a constant supporter of WASPI women – a position which I continue to maintain.”

Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: “Today is a day of shame for the government.

“The new government has turned its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged through no fault of their own, ignoring the independent Ombudsman’s recommendations, and that is frankly disgraceful.

“The Conservative party left our economy in a shambles, but asking wronged pensioners to pay the price of their mismanagement is simply wrong.

“For years, Liberal Democrats have pushed the government to fairly compensate WASPI women in line with the Ombudsman’s recommendations. Today’s heartless decision cannot be allowed to stand and we will be pressing ministers to give those affected the fair treatment they deserve.”

The campaigners claim that 3.6 million women born in the 1950s were not properly informed of the rise in state pension age to bring them into line with men.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, who comes across as very much middle class and looked like it at the despatch box in the House of Commons wearing extremely expensive  spectacles, apologised for a 28-month delay in sending letters, but has rejected any kind of financial payouts.

Nine months ago, a parliamentary ombudsman recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 to each of those affected and the WASPI women were hopeful of having that money in their bank accounts for Christmas.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign described the government’s decision as an “insult” and have already labelled Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as Scrooge.

“The government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog,” said Angela Madden, who chairs the campaign group.

“This is a bizarre and totally unjustified move which will leave everyone asking what the point of an ombudsman is if ministers can simply ignore their decisions.”

The Waspi campaign had called for payments of at least £10,000 each.

But Kendall said there was evidence that there was “considerable awareness” of the changes to the pension age, and sending letters earlier would not have made a difference to their ability to make retirement choices.

She also said that there was no evidence of “direct financial loss” resulting from the government’s decision.

“Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5 billion would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers,” she said.

Sir Keir Starmer said he understood the concern of the Waspi women, but had to take into account whether it was right “to impose a further burden on the taxpayer”.

The age at which people receive the state pension has been increasing as people live longer, and currently stands at 66 for men and women.

For decades, men had received their state pension at 65 and women at the age of 60.

Under the 1995 Pensions Act a timetable was drawn up to equalise the age at which men and women could draw their state pension. The plan was to raise the qualifying age for women to 65 and to phase in that change from 2010 to 2020.

But the coalition government of 2010 decided to speed that up. Under the 2011 Pensions Act the new qualifying age of 65 for women was brought forward to 2018.

The increases have been controversial. Campaigners claim women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by the rapid changes and the way they were communicated to those affected.

Many thousands said they had no idea they would have to wait longer to receive their state pension, and had suffered financial and emotional distress as a result.

While the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) could recommend compensation, it could not enforce it.

The work and pensions secretary said lessons would be learnt from what had happened. The government would develop an action plan to fix problems identified in the ombudsman’s report, and set a clear notice of any future changes to the state pension age.

She said that future pension communications would also use “the most up to date methods” to contact those affected.

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Darling said: “Today is a day of shame for the government [which] has turned its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged through no fault of their own, ignoring the independent ombudsman’s recommendations, and that is frankly disgraceful.”

For the Conservatives, who did not respond to the ombudsman’s report when in power, shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said ministers must “own” the decision not to give payouts.

A petition to Parliament for a compensation system to be introduced had reached 135,000 signatures before Tuesday’s announcement.