WASPI state pension compensation update as minister asked for reply 'before Christmas'

A government minister has given an update in Parliament today (November 11) on the campaign to get compensation for the ‘WASPI’ women who lost out through changes to the state pension age and pledged to come back ‘in the coming weeks’. The WASPI organisation - which stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality has been campaigning for fair payments after the government ombudsman ruled against the government.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO )published its report in March this year saying the women affected should get payouts of between £1,000 to £2,950 after the government increased the state pension age with insufficient notice.

The long-running saga relates to 3.8 million women born between April 6, 1950, and April 5, 1960, who found their State Pension age had gone up from 60 to 65 and then to 66. In the Commons today Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling asked during Department for Work and Pensions questions: “All members in this chamber are aware of the waspi women campaign and the parliamentary ombudsman’s findings. Will the secretary of state before Christmas commit to this house that she will come and give a statement in respect of the progress of her review of this ombudsman report? “

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Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds replied: “ I thank the honourable gentleman for that question. As he will know, the ombudsman took six years to look at what are a range of complex cases, and we are looking at the complexity of those cases. I was the first minister in six years to meet with representatives of the waspi campaign. We hope to update this house in the coming weeks.”

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published its final report in March and says it found the DWP did not give the women enough notice of the age rise to 65 brought in by the 1995 Pensions Act but had provided adequate warning about the impact of the Pensions Act 2011, which further pushed up the age to 66.

WASPI and other campaigners are calling on the Government to provide compensation for women born in the 1950s who were impacted when the state pension age for women rose from 60 to 65. The PHSO has said that compensating all of those affected at its suggested level would involve spending between £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion.

Recently, Pensions Minister Ms Reynolds revealed that the DWP has been exploring the costs of establishing a compensation scheme for those affected. In a written response, Ms Reynolds stated that as part of the DWP’s investigation into the Ombudsman’s report, it had discovered that the estimated cost of compensating all women at level four - between £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion - did not account for administrative costs. The Pensions Minister said: “As part of our work on the Ombudsman’s investigation and report, we have been considering the costs of setting up a compensation scheme. The Ombudsman used DWP’s broad estimates in their report published 21 March 2024, stating that ‘Compensating all women born in the 1950s at the level 4 range would involve spending between around £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion of public funds’. This estimate excludes administration costs.”

Ms Reynolds added: “This Government is giving its full and proper consideration to all areas of the Ombudsman’s report. Once this work has been undertaken, we will be in a position to outline our approach.”