DWP WASPI compensation update as Labour wins General Election

WASPI campaigners have issued a new update as Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party has won the General Election.

Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) was set up to help women who have been negatively affected by their pension age going up, after they were not given proper notice about it. Affected women, who were born in the 1950s, say they were not correctly informed by the Government that their State Pension age would increase by more than five years.

After a six-year investigation, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman concluded on March 21 that women born in the 1950s, affected by short notice changes to their State Pension age, should be compensated. The Ombudsman then asked Parliament to intervene and “act swiftly” to make sure a compensation scheme is established.

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The Ombudsman recommended that impacted women will likely receive between £1,000 and £2,950 in compensation, significantly less than the £10,000 or more that campaigners had been hoping for. Compensation is only available to women who were born between April 6, 1950, and April 5, 1960.

But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has not yet responded to the Ombudsman's report.

After the General Election result was declared, Angela Madden, Chair of the WASPI Campaign, said: "Hundreds of candidates who actively support WASPI's calls for fair and fast compensation have been elected to this new Parliament.

“This includes over 70 Liberal Democrat MPs who have been steadfast in their commitment to 1950’s-born women and we look forward to working with them to achieve justice. With this definitive majority, Labour has been given a strong mandate for delivering change.

"It is time for them to make good on their MPs’ and candidates’ record of support to deliver a compensation scheme in the first 100 days of this Parliament. Anything else would be to let down millions of 1950s-born women at the very first hurdle and ignoring the government's own independent watchdog would set the wrong tone for a government looking to make change. ”

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