News Beat
Waspi women compensation bid rejected AGAIN
Millions of women born in the 1950s affected by changes to the state pension age will not receive compensation.
Ministers have reconsidered the case after a new document emerged but have today said no extra cash should be paid.
The decision, which affects about 3.6 million women, was met with anger by the campaigners known as WASPI – Women Against State Pension Inequality.
Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden said: “The evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women already knew the state pension age was increasing thanks to a wide range of public information, including through leaflets, education campaigns, information in GP surgeries, on TV, radio, cinema and online.
“To specifically compensate only those women who suffered injustice would require a scheme that could reliably verify the individual circumstances of millions of women.”
A wider flat-rate scheme would cost an eye-watering £10.3 billion.
But the government were immediately accused of “utter contempt”.
Women affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated have now been told for the second time they will not receive compensation.
Labour’s previous policy not to offer redress was reviewed following the rediscovery of a 2007 Department for Work and Pensions evaluation.
It was not seen by former Welfare Secretary Liz Kendall when she made her original decision.
Angela Madden, Chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said:
“Ministers have demonstrated their utter contempt for 1950s-born women, for Parliament and for the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
“The Government has kicked the can down the road for months, only to arrive at exactly the same conclusion it has always wanted to.
“This is a disgraceful political choice by a small group of very powerful people who have decided the harm and injustice suffered by millions of ordinary women simply does not matter.
“The Parliamentary Ombudsman says economic circumstances should not be used as an excuse to deny compensation.
“The Government has magically found billions to fund policies not made in their election manifesto, proving money can quickly become available when ministers consider something a priority.
“WASPI is taking legal advice, and all options remain on the table. We stand ready to pursue every avenue in Parliament and in the courts to secure the justice that has been so shamefully denied.”
But shadow Treasury Minister Mark Garnier said: “No wonder therefore that the Waspi women who were promised so much are so angry. The people who used to stand beside them have turned against them.
“If the Government really believed that these women had faced a great injustice, they would have found a way to compensate them.”
He told MPs: “Isn’t it now just fact that this Government resemble, frankly, a bunch of joy riders pulling handbrake turns in a Tesco car park when they should be a serious party of Government?”
