The Government has today (12 November) announced it will review its decision not to compensate the so-called ‘Waspi’ women.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign has been pushing for compensation for the 3.6 million women who expected their state pension at 60, but were forced to wait another five or six years.
Last December, the Government said it would not compensate them, but has now U-turned after new evidence came to light.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden confirmed the decision will be reconsidered and the Government will withdraw from the judicial review brought by the women, which was due to begin next month, while the evidence is reviewed.
McFadden said that the new evidence had been uncovered during the legal proceedings challenging the Government’s decision in December.
In March, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) called on the government to pay compensation to women born in the 1950s who were negatively impacted by the rise in their state pension age (SPA).
The report accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of “maladministration”.
The ombudsman put the cost of compensating all women at between £3.5bn and £10.5bn, although it acknowledged not all of these women will have been affected.
The ombudsman said the DWP’s handling of the changes meant certain women lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances, which resulted in reducing their sense of personal autonomy and financial control.
GMB Union, which wrote to the Secretary of State in January, describing the lack of settlement as a ‘huge disappointment’, has welcomed the Government’s decision.
GMB General Secretary Gary Smith said: “GMB Union has long supported Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) and has always said the Government must resolve the injustice.
“Clearly the economy has been left in tatters by the Conservative Government, but those women born in the 1950s should not have to carry the can.
“We asked the Government to reconsider its decision earlier this year; now they are doing so and the Waspi women must now get justice.”
