Angela Madden, the Waspi chairwoman has criticised compensation delays and calls for recognition of state pension as “a right, not a benefit”.
She explained the failure to properly communicate changes to the women’s state pension age to those affected have cost them over £40,000.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign is seeking “fair and fast” compensation for those affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ handling of the state pension age equalisation between 2010 and 2020.
Speaking to GB News’ Andrew Pierce at the Labour Party’s annual conference, Madden explained the Government has a chance to do the right thing and implement compensation for the women who have been affected.
She said: “Many of us planned to retire at 60, and took early retirement before we knew of the changes.
“We also lost out on wages and extra payments that could have made into our pension schemes if we had known the state pension was going to rise to 66.”
Speaking to GB News’ Andrew Pierce at the Labour conference, Madden explained the Government has a chance to do the right thing
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A report by the Parliament and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in 2021 found the Department for Work and Pensions guilty of “maladministration” regarding the state pension age changes.
A subsequent PHSO report this year suggested that women born in the 1950s may be entitled to compensation between £1,000 and £2,950 which could cost the Treasury between £3.5billion and £10.5billion.
However, the Waspi campaign has called for a higher level of compensation, amounting to £10,000 or more per affected woman.
Madden said: “If the Chancellor implemented the recommendations by the Ombudsmen, it would cost the treasury around £10billion as there are around 3.6million Waspi women and this is the issue for the Government.”
Madden emphasised the financial impact on Waspi women, stating, “The average Waspi woman would have expected a state pension of around £8,000 to 10,000 a year so on average they have lost £40,000, a lot of money.”
She highlighted the widespread support for their cause, saying, “There are many many young people who support what we are doing. There is no generational divide on this.
“We worked and contributed to the scheme [the state pension] for over 40 years and we expected to get what we were told out of it and we didn’t.”
Despite the PHSO’s findings, neither Labour or the Conservative Party pledged to put forward a compensation payout during the General Election campaign which has disappointed campaigners.
The Waspi chairwoman called for action from the Government, stating: “Successive Governments have not done the right thing but the time is now to do the right thing.
“Successive Governments have saved £181billion by removing our pension without notice. We are asking for a fraction of that back.”
The Waspi campaign had a meeting with Emma Reynolds, pension minister at the beginning of the month which brought relief to many affected.
Madden explained the pension’s minister did listen to the challenges faced, but stressed this was just the first meeting of many to come.
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She said: “We are impatient but we are willing to give them time to sort things out.”
Figures show around 293,000 Waspi women have died since the beginning of the campaign, with one person dying every 13 minutes. Madden stresses time is of the essence.