AFTER decades of campaigning, women affected by changes to the state pension age have described the UK Government’s refusal to compensate them as a “betrayal”.
The Government claims that compensating the women affected would cost over £10bn and that it was “not a good use” of public money.
Changes to the state pension age were introduced almost thirty years ago when Sir John Major was Prime Minister. George Osborne made further changes in 2011.
The changes and their impacts were not clearly communicated to women affected by them, and millions of women born in the 1950s lost out or had to continue working beyond their planned retirement. Many women only discovered the rule changes when it came time to claim their pensions. Those who’d cashed in pension funds were particularly badly hit.
The cumulative savings to the UK Treasury from changing women’s pension age are estimated at well over £150bn.
Although campaigners railed against the unfairness of the Government’s policy for years, from 2015, Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) became synonymous with the campaign.
In a report in March 2024, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said that the six women affected by the change in pension age who brought test cases should receive between £1,000 and £2,950 compensation for maladministration because the Department for Work and Pensions failed to heed its own research showing that public campaigns were not reaching enough affected women.
The Ombudsman found that the DWP should have sent individual letters to affected women between 2007 and 2012. He stated that “the Department must do the right thing, and it must be held to account for failure to do so.”
On December 17, the Labour government rejected the Ombudsman’s recommendation with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall, stating that no financial compensation would be paid to WASPI women.
Labour politicians have been accused of rank hypocrisy by campaigners, who note how the Labour Party used WASPI women as a stick to beat the Conservative Government.
Keir Starmer and current members of his Cabinet enthusiastically endorsed pledges in the Labour Party’s manifestos in 2017 and 2019. From Liz Kendall to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Joyce Watson, and Henry Tufnell, Labour candidates, MPs, and MSs rushed to support the WASPI women’s campaign. Labour speeches and press releases paid lip service to righting the injustice that WASPI women claimed they’d suffered.
The problem for Labour is not that they have “betrayed” the WASPI women; it is that so many Labour MPs supported the campaign for opportunistic reasons when the Tories were in power and are now having their words thrown back in their faces.
In the debate following Liz Kendall’s announcement on December 17, SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn MP, caught the WASPI women’s mood: “When it was politically convenient to do so, Labour backed the WASPI women. Today, they have chosen to betray them.”
Throughout the WASPI campaign, successive Conservative governments rejected calls to change the rules and defended legal actions designed to force them to do so. They argued they needed to make the state pension more affordable for taxpayers, that compensation would be unaffordable within constrained public finances, and that forcing men to work longer than women was potentially illegal.
That’s important because, regardless of how justified Conservatives feel at having Labour repeat its line on the issue, attempts to capitalise on the Government’s self-inflicted wounds are as hypocritical as Labour’s conduct.
To that end, Andrew RT Davies MS, Senedd Member for South Wales Central, said: “This decision shows what a bunch of shameless opportunists Labour are.
“Many of the Labour great and good, including Eluned Morgan, said their party would compensate WASPI women when they were trying to get votes, and now haven’t kept up their end of the bargain.
“People across Wales will see this decision and conclude that they cannot trust Labour again.”
One WASPI supporter said: “I would say I’m ‘shocked and appalled’ by Labour’s despicable betrayal of the WASPI women. However, it comes as absolutely no surprise whatsoever from Starmer and Kendall.
“I feel for all of the campaigners and women who have fought for justice for so many years, but especially for incredibly dedicated activists such as Jackie Gilderdale and others who have worked tirelessly to keep this issue on the agenda and, over the years, have gained the support of so many Labour politicians who must feel ashamed by this disgusting decision.”
With a massive backbench rebellion forecast as a result of the Government’s announcement, it’s time for those Labour politicians who backed the WASPI women to show whether or not they are the hypocrites that their Government’s decision makes them appear.
We will let you know if that happens and when it does not. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Labour politicians supporting WASPI.
