‘Wespi women will not be ignored or disappear despite the budget omission’

Waspi women have expressed disappointment with their existence rejected in the budget without it happening compensation those affected by changes to the state pension age without prior notice.

Thousands Waspi women (Women against inequality in state pensions). gathered outside parliament on Budget Day and demanded that the government provide compensation to those affected.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced billions in compensation will be reserved for the victims of the infected blood And Horizon Post Office scandals, but made no mention of Waspi women affected by historic changes in the state pension age.

More than three million women born in the 1950s were affected when the state pension age rose from 60 to 65 and later to 66. Many said they had not been informed or given sufficient notice of the changes to opt out. prepare their future.

In March this year the Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended that Waspi women should receive compensation of between £1,000 and £2,750.

Shelagh Simmons, WASPI coordinator for Solent and Isle of Wight, was among the women who took part in the demonstration.

She told me i that although Waspi women may not have been mentioned in the budget, they will continue their fight for justice.

Ms Simmons, who lives in Southsea, Hampshire, said: “We want to make our voices heard. We will not be ignored or left.

“It is important that the integrity of the Parliamentary Ombudsman is upheld, and we expect the same from a Labor government.”

Mrs. Simmons told it i she only discovered at the age of 58 that her state pension age had changed. The news came after she had already voluntarily resigned from her job at a local charity that year.

“I was 58 when I received a letter from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) saying my state pension age had risen from 65 to 65.5,” she explained. “But that was actually the first notification I got that it had actually gone up from 60.

“So at the age of 58, when I thought I only had two years to wait until I received my state pension, I discovered that I now had almost eight years to wait.”

Ms Simmons says that if she had known the facts about the changing state pension age, she probably would not have been dismissed voluntarily, but she would have made her decision based on what she thought was going to happen at the time.

She and her husband’s income was also affected by his health. Mr Simmons, a former machinist, was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 40 after undergoing a medical assessment at work.

When he started taking insulin to control his diabetes, he had to stop driving trains and find a lower-paying job.

Ms Simmons says they have had to make adjustments due to the delay in receiving her state pension, but she is thinking of herself luckier than many Waspi women because she had a small company pension.

“Many women did not have the opportunity to build up a workplace pension because they had breaks for things like having children or caring responsibilities,” she said.

“I’ve been luckier than others, but nevertheless it was a big gap to close and we had to adjust our spending.”

She added: “I also have an elderly mother who needs my support. Many of us Waspi women have caring responsibilities and save the government a lot of money by caring for elderly relatives and grandchildren.

“The Government has saved £181.4 billion on the backs of Waspi women by raising our retirement age. All we want is a fraction of what they saved from us in compensation.”

Mrs. Simmons told it i Waspi women have no problem with the state pension age being equal to men because they believe it is the right thing to do. However, she says it was the way it was done, without properly informing women or notifying them properly, that they are fighting for compensation for.

She added: “The way it was done was wrong and they know it was wrong. We had hoped that there would be a commitment from the Government to Waspi women in the Budget, but it was disappointing that there was not.

“We know that when we were in opposition we had the support of the Labor Party and they made several strong statements and commitments to us.

“The Prime Minister and all the ministers have made quite a point that Labor is the party of social justice. It doesn’t seem very fair to us if they are prepared to ignore the report from the government’s own watchdog, which makes very clear recommendations about what should be done.

“We know we have cross-party support from ordinary MPs, so actually it would be unconscionable if the government didn’t do the right thing by us.”

Angela Madden, chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said: “The Chancellor’s Budget was yet another missed opportunity for ministers to commit to compensating the 3.6 million women affected by changes in their state pension age.

“Hundreds of MPs from across Parliament have voiced their support for the campaign since the general election, and their calls for fair and speedy compensation are echoed by the vast majority of the public across the country.

“It has been 225 days since the Parliamentary Ombudsman ordered the DWP to compensate those affected.

“Given that more than 12,000 women have died since the report was published in March, there can be no more delay. There must be justice for all Waspi women as soon as possible.”

The modern state pension was introduced in 1948. For sixty years, men and women who paid sufficient national insurance contributions received their state pension at 65 and 60 respectively.

The 1995 Pension Act would raise the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020, making it equal to that of men.

The Ombudsman’s report in March examined historical complaints that the DWP “failed to provide adequate, accurate and timely information” about changes to the state pension age since 1995.

The report found “mismanagement” after information about changes to the state pension age failed to reach “the people who needed it most” from 2005.

The PHSO also found that the “DWP failed to adequately investigate and respond to complaints about these issues”, adding that there were “also avoidable delays in complaints handling”.

A government spokesman said: “This was a serious report that required serious consideration.

“We will continue to listen respectfully to the women involved and ensure that we take the lessons learned to heart.”