I want to congratulate the Department for Work and Pensions. They’ve made the excellent decision to – once again – refuse compensation to the Waspi women. The cohort of 3.6 million women born in the 1950s claim to have not been informed that their state pension age would rise – bringing it into line with the male retirement age.
Their campaign group (Women Against State Pension Inequity) have led one of the most vocal but ridiculous campaigns in modern British history. Despite leaflets being individually written, information campaigns in doctors’ offices, and relentless TV and online adverts, the group claims that they were not adequately informed of the pension age change, and thus should be compensated from the pockets of the rest of us.
An ombudsman recommended compensation of £1,000 to £2,950 for each of the Waspis, but the government – rightly – has refused the recommendation given it would cost the taxpayer (many of whom are unlikely to get a state pension at all) over £10 billion. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, reconsidered the Waspi women’s case after it emerged that his predecessor Liz Kendall, who made the initial decision to reject compensation, had not been made aware of a piece of evidence from 2007. He has today made the decision to withhold payouts again.
The Waspis are fuming. This afternoon they released a statement saying: ‘ministers have demonstrated their utter contempt for 1950s born women’. It went on ‘this is a disgraceful political choice by a small group of very powerful people who have decided the harm and injustice suffered by millions of ordinary simply does not matter.’
They’d be right, of course, if the decision to raise the age had been sprung on them in shock to fill a budget hole. But that just didn’t happen. The change was first announced by Ken Clarke in 1995. To think that it’s anyone’s fault but their own that they had no idea this was coming in the many, many years that followed is just ridiculous. I don’t know how they can even believe it themselves.
Then there’s the ‘injustice’ the Waspis claim to have suffered. Pensioners get more from the state than anyone else. Almost one in four of them live in millionaire households. The idea that it would be somehow ‘just’ to find £10 billion from the dwindling number of people in work and business (who are also taxed at at record highs) for a bung to people already protected by the triple lock would be laughable. Good call Pat McFadden. Well done.
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