An update has been given out regarding the issue of the Government outlining their next steps on delivering Waspi women their compensation.
Compensation is due to these women following the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) report, which found the Department for Work and Pensions failed to properly warn affected women that the state pension age was going up.
Without adequate warning, thousands of these women found themselves falling into poverty as they had not planned to work an extra six years – from 60 to 66.
Emma Reynolds, the new pensions minister, confirmed that she’s received the request from Waspi to talk further about the compensation issue and the meeting will happen “in due course”.
Even with Parliament taking a summer recess soon, campaigners have stated party conference season is a good time to raise awareness.
Angela Madden, Waspi chair explained the campaign group may have an opportunity to speak at the Labour conference in September or October.
The WASPI campaign doesn’t oppose state pension age equalisation but argues against the way changes were brought in GETTYBy speaking at the conference, the chair hopes to use the opportunity to raise awareness of the issue with parties that support them as well as others.
She said: “What we find from going to the Labour conference is we speak to the constituency Labour parties, we speak to Labour voters, we speak to all the people who support us and don’t know if they can do anything.
“We can tell them, please write to your own MP, bring it up in your constituency Labour party, put pressure on your Government for us to get this resolved.”
Many MPs in the new Government have backed the cause of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign, and the Liberal Democrats and the SNP have said there should be compensation payments.
However the Labour Government will now have to be intentional when dealing with the issue to ensure compensation gets started.
Reynolds also said that the Government “respects” the Ombudsman’s work, but said it needs to “consider views that have been expressed on all sides”.
Liz Kendall, the new pensions secretary told BBC: “We will continue to engage with the Waspi women and the campaigners, and that’s something that the Minister for Pensions will be working on. We are determined to deal with these problems and not run away from them.”
However, Angela Madden, Waspi chair hit back at these comments explained that if ministers are just now “considering all views” what is the point of an independent Ombudsman?
She said: “The question of whether Waspi women should be compensated can’t just be rehashed and reopened after a six-year inquiry. It’s now a question of when and how compensation should be administered.
“As the new Secretary of State says, this scandal has been going on for years, so the idea it is all a new issue for them to take a view about is really for the birds. They have had the Ombudsman’s very clear report for four months even before they took office.
The group estimates that more than 110 affected women die every day whilst waiting for a decision.
Campaigners are calling on policymakers to do more for women born in the 1950s WASPI
More than 13,000 Waspi women have died since the report was published saying they should be compensated, campaigners claim.