Justice for the WASPI Women

Jan 15, 2025 | Parliamentary Work

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This week, I spoke in a packed-out Westminster Hall debate on the issue of compensation for women affected by uncommunicated changes to the state pension age. Plans to equalise the state pension age for men and women were phased in faster than expected by the 2011 Pensions Act. But the women affected by this change were not properly notified of it, with hugely damaging consequences for their finances and retirement planning. 

Last year’s report from the Parliamentary Health and Service Ombudsman concluded that the government failed in its duty to inform women affected by this change. It called for women affected to be compensated for this failure. The government rightly apologised for the injustice suffered by women in light of the Ombudsman’s report. But what good is an apology without steps towards redress? I reminded the government that people voted for a compassionate alternative to the Conservatives and called for WASPI women to be compensated.