An estimated 3.6 million Waspi women expected to get their state pension at 60 but had to wait another five or six years due to increases in the state pension age.

WASPI women will NOT get any compensation from DWP, Labour says

by · Birmingham Live

Waspi women will not get any compensation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), it has been confirmed. An estimated 3.6 million Waspi women expected to get their state pension at 60 but had to wait another five or six years due to increases in the state pension age.

Many claim they were not made properly aware of the major change and made life-altering decisions because they believed they would get their pension at 60. The PHSO recommended compensation and suggested payments of between £1,000 and £2,950, which could have put the bill at up to £10.5bn.

But Labour Party minister Liz Kendall MP announced the news in Parliament earlier this afternoon in a move that will see thousands of women receive miss out on up to £3,000 in compensation. During ministerial questions, Kendall took aim at the ombudsman's report and claimed the proposed payments were not "fair or value for taxpayer money'". She claimed "the great majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing".

READ MORE People on DLA warned they will have to 'wait 10 months' for payment

PHSO chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said the ombudsman had made “a finding of failings by DWP” and had ruled that “the women affected are owed compensation”. The ombudsman’s report recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for a group of six test claimants – level 4 compensation.

Waspi campaign chair Angela Madden slammed the Government for failing to adhere by the PHSO's findings and called on MPs to do right by women born in the 1950s. She explained: "The Government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog which ordered ministers urgently to compensate Waspi women nine months ago.

"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. It feels like a decision that would make the likes of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump blush.

“The idea that an ‘action plan’ to avoid such mistakes in future should be the result of a six-year Ombudsman’s investigation is an insult both to the women and to the PHSO process. An overwhelming majority of MPs back Waspi's calls for fair compensation and all options remain on the table. Parliament must now seek an alternative mechanism to force this issue on to the order paper so justice can be done."