Waspi outrage grows with furious MPs ‘planning next steps’ to force Labour into U-turn
MP Rebecca Long-Bailey has expressed outrage at Labour’s decision to reject compensation recommendations for Waspi women, vowing to pursue parliamentary action to force a U-turn.
She said she was “shocked” by the Government’s announcement that it would not implement compensation payments of up to £2,950 per person as recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Long-Bailey revealed she would be meeting with the all-party parliamentary group for Waspi women to discuss next steps following the controversial decision announced by pensions minister Liz Kendall.
Speaking to GB News she said: “We’ll be having a meeting of the all party parliamentary group later today to discuss steps forward.
“But ultimately, I think this goes right to the heart of the importance of the Ombudsman’s report and the dismissal of its recommendations by government.
“There are a number of different parliamentary mechanisms that we can use to raise that issue, and I’m sure colleagues will be doing that.”
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She added: “We hope that they revisit this because it’s not just an issue about campaigning. This is injustice.
“The Government has been found guilty of maladministration and it has to act on that.”
The MP emphasised that it was “extremely rare for a government to not act upon” recommendations from an independent watchdog.
She indicated that cross-party support exists, with an “overwhelming majority of MPs” backing Waspi’s calls for fair compensation.
Labour’s pensions minister Liz Kendall announced in Parliament that the Government would not provide compensation to women affected by state pension age changes.
Kendall told the Commons: “The Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5billion would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers.”
She argued that “most women knew the state pension age was increasing” and that notification letters were not as significant as the Ombudsman suggested.
The decision means thousands of women will miss out on proposed compensation payments that could have ranged from £1,000 to £2,950 per person.
An estimated 3.6 million women born in the 1950s were affected by changes to the state pension age, which increased from 60 to 65.
Many of these women claim they were not properly informed of the changes, leading to life-altering decisions based on the expectation of receiving their pension at 60.
In 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found the Department for Work and Pensions guilty of “maladministration” due to inadequate communication of the changes.
Earlier this year, the ombudsman recommended Level 4 compensation payments of between £1,000 and £2,950 for affected women. The total cost of such a compensation scheme was estimated to be between £3.5billion and £10.5billion.