Anger as government 'owes WASPI woman £48,000' amid budget nightmare | UK

A WASPI woman has furiously demanded the government pay her £48,000 Rachel Reeves dismissing women who are demanding compensation because they were not informed of the changes in the state pension age.

The Chancellor announced compensation packages worth more than £13 billion for the victims of the Post Office Horizon and tainted blood scandals in her Budget on Wednesday (30 October).

But the more than three million women affected by the state pension The increase from 60 in 2010 to 65 in 2015 received no mention, despite Labor promising to help them.

Women against State pension Inequality (WASPI), who claim they were not communicated effectively about the changes to the retirement age, organized protests on Budget Day to highlight their plight and demand action from ministers.

Teresa Stoddart, 70, from Huyton, Merseyside, said she and her family have lost almost £50,000 as a result of the policy change.

Ms Stoddart said at a protest in Liverpool: ‘We want what is rightfully ours. I have lost £48,000. How am I ever going to make that money? I paid. National insurance premiums paid for our pensions I will never, ever give up the fight because I believe this is a right.”

The grandmother-of-seven explained how she planned to get her pension in 2014 when she received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions in 2012 saying she would have to wait another six years.

She told me Liverpool echo: “I wanted to retire at 60 to take care of my grandchildren. My children, who all work in the public sector, could not afford childcare.

“At great financial loss to me, I had to semi-retire and care for my grandchildren.”

Ministers have so far failed to compensate Teresa and the millions of women in similar positions, despite a Parliamentary and Healthcare Ombudsman report recommending those affected receive £1,000 to £2,995.

In 1995, the Pension Act included plans to increase pensions State pension age for women up to 65 years, in line with that for men. Under the Pension Act of 2007, this was increased to 66 years for both sexes.

WASPI supports the retirement age being the same for men and women, but says the way the change was implemented left ‘no time’ for women to plan ahead.

Angela Madden, chair of the campaign group, said The Telegraph: “Affected women have been vindicated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report.

“Parliament must compensate all women affected, but months later we have yet to receive an official response from the Labor Party.”

The Department for Work and Pensions has been approached for comment.