WASPI women sent 'loud and clear' alert and warned 'nobody touch it'

WASPI women have been issued a "loud and clear" message over scams circulating promising them compensation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The House of Lords has highlighted the need for state pensioners affected by historic injustices in payments to be wary.

Baroness Sherlock, Under-Secretary for the DWP, emphasized in her response that there is currently no compensation scheme in place. “Anyone claiming to offer it is scamming, and nobody should touch it—please can that message go out loud and clear,” she said.

The WASPI campaign, which has advocated for affected women, reported a spike in fake compensation sites over the summer. Christine Smith, Waspi’s Wear and Tees campaign coordinator, said that 65,000 North East women in England were affected and the current Labour Party government was not acting quickly enough.

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She said in a warning last week: “A lot of women had already retired to care for their elderly parents or grandchildren. It’s devastating for the whole family. It affects men as well, they’re having to work longer. When women leave, it’s harder to get back into the workplace.

“Up here it’s been particularly devastating. Women have lost their homes, got themselves into debt, can’t get a job. The first pension act was in 1995. If the Government had told us then, we could have planned ahead. We have never said we disagree with equalisation.

“It makes me pretty angry on account that [Labour] already had a [compensation] plan in place from 2019. I can’t understand why this administration is dithering about. The Labour party promised Waspi women they would see justice. Get on with it.”

The women, born in the 1950s and known as WASPIs say they were not properly warned that their state pension age would increase and have been fighting for compensation for nine years.