‘The fight for WASPI women is far from over’

With just 45 minutes of notice, MPs were taken by surprise just days before Christmas, when the government said it would be making an announcement on compensation for 1950s-born women affected by changes to their State Pension age.

After a drawn-out campaign lasting nearly a decade by the WASPI women, it felt like we were on the verge of finally delivering justice to a cohort who had bravely made the case for compensation after they were so badly stung by the state.

Our party had been overwhelmingly supportive of the WASPI women to date, with huge numbers of MPs pledging their support and posing with placards.

Campaigning for the WASPI women

The Women Against State Pension Inequality – or WASPI – campaign calls for fair compensation for women who received as little as a few months’ notice of a six-year increase to their State Pension age, after the Department for Work and Pensions failed to properly inform them of the changes.

In March 2024, the Parliamentary Ombudsman vindicated the calls of campaigners, recommending the government pays compensation and apologises to 1950s-born women. They found the DWP failed to properly inform the cohort of increases of up to six years in some cases, and that ministers were guilty of maladministration.

The watchdog also concluded that just 43% of people in the early 2000s knew that changes made to the State Pension age would apply to them specifically.

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Without the same levels of internet access and rolling news coverage we see today, every single MP will have no doubt been overloaded with casework detailing the government’s failure to properly communicate with its own citizens.

The Conservatives unsurprisingly kicked the can down the road and so it fell to Labour to respond following the general election. It became our party’s chance to deliver justice to a generation of women who had been so badly treated.

Minutes before the announcement, dozens of my Labour colleagues and I piled into the Chamber, eager to hear what sort of compensation scheme the Work and Pensions Secretary would announce.

While we sat down on the green benches behind the Secretary of State with anticipation and excitement – we left an hour later in sheer disbelief, with some colleagues in tears.

Fighting for social justice

The government announced that while it accepted wrongdoing and would apologise, there would be no compensation, directly ignoring the recommendations of the independent Parliamentary Ombudsman who had found in favour of WASPI women just months earlier.

The anger in the Chamber following the announcement was palpable. Many of my colleagues – myself included – were not just disappointed but absolutely appalled.

Dozens of senior Labour figures have spoken out publicly against the decision to not compensate the WASPI women, with many more urging a rethink.

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Labour is the party of social justice and equality – we cannot leave ourselves in a position to be lectured by parties who oversaw austerity and the destruction of our public services during the coalition government.

With opposition parties threatening to force through a vote in the new year, this problem is not going to go away. The headaches for those at the top of government are only going to get worse.

After a decade of support from across the Labour movement, the WASPI women are not a political football – they are a generation of women who deserve justice we have promised them.

And when that opposition vote comes, I will be doing the right thing and voting for WASPI women to receive the justice they are due and deserve.

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