WASPI campaigners step up the pressure demanding a binding Commons vote on state pension compensation. After ministers again ruled out payouts, activists are urging the public to contact their MPs and force Parliament to decide. The fight shifts from Whitehall to Westminster.

Waspi campaigners call for a vote in Parliament on compensation

Waspi women are calling for a vote in Parliament on compensation for those affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated.Credit: PA
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Waspi women are calling for a vote in Parliament on compensation for those affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated, after the government again said they will not receive payments.

A new letter campaign led by Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) is pressing the government to enable all MPs to “have their say”, and urges people to contact their MP.

Waspi women have campaigned for support for those born in the 1950s, saying they did not receive sufficient warning of the state pension age for women being raised from 60 to 65, in line with men.

Those affected were initially told they would not receive state pension compensation in December 2024.

Last week, Pat McFadden apologised that women were not sent individual letters about changes to the state pension.Credit: PA
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In November last year, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the government would reconsider this decision after the emergence of new “evidence” which his predecessor, Liz Kendall, was not shown.

But last week, McFadden said: “The evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women already knew the state pension age was increasing thanks to a wide range of public information, including through leaflets, education campaigns, information in GP surgeries, on TV, radio, cinema and online.”

He said a wider flat-rate scheme “would simply not be right or fair”, and to specifically compensate only those women who suffered injustice “would require a scheme that could reliably verify the individual circumstances of millions of women”.

Now, Angela Madden, chairwoman of Waspi, said: “There must be a binding vote on compensation in Government time so all our elected representatives can have their say.”

Political opponents challenged the government’s recent decision.

Last week, the Conservatives accused Labour of “turning against” Waspi women.

Tory MP Mark Garnier said: “If the government really believed that these women had faced a great injustice, they would have found a way to compensate them.”

The Liberal Democrats Work and Pensions spokesman, Steve Darling, also criticised the decision, saying the Waspi women will feel “betrayed because false hope was given to them in the autumn”.

In 1995, the government announced women’s state pension age would be increased in phases from 2010 over ten years.

Around 3.5 million women were affected by the changes.

A Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report has previously suggested compensation between £1,000 and nearly £3,000 could be suitable for those affected by how the changes were communicated.