London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Women's state pension: Compensation closer for Waspi campaigners

Women's state pension: Compensation closer for Waspi campaigners

Government officials were too slow to tell many women they would be affected by the rising state pension age, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has ruled.

The finding brings the prospect of compensation closer for thousands of women born in the 1950s who have long been furious about the issue.

It marks a significant victory for the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign.

However, the ombudsman has no power to refund "lost" pensions.


It is also unable to recommend that anyone receive their state pension any earlier than the current law allows.

Angela Madden, who chairs the Waspi campaign, said: "The findings reinforce what we, unfortunately, knew all along; that the DWP failed to adequately inform 3.8 million 1950s-born women that their state pension age would be increasing.

"These women have been waiting for many years for compensation. We cannot wait any longer. We are calling on the government to agree fair and adequate compensation rather than allow what has become a vicious cycle of government inaction to continue."

Financial and emotional loss


The age at which people receive the state pension has been increasing as people live longer, and currently stands at 66 for men and women.

The increases have been controversial. Campaigners claim women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by rapid changes and the way they were communicated to those affected.

Many thousands said they had no idea they would have to wait longer to receive their state pension, and had suffered financial and emotional distress as a result.


The ombudsman's initial finding of maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) centres on a delay in providing direct information to this group of women.

While some women were aware of the general policy change, they did not know it would affect them personally.

The ombudsman said that letters should have been sent directly to these women more than two years earlier than they were. For some, the delay was much longer.

"We have found that DWP failed to act quickly enough once it knew a significant proportion of women were not aware of changes to their state pension age," said Amanda Amroliwala, chief executive of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

"It should have written to the women affected at least 28 months earlier than it did. We will now consider the impact of these failings, and what action should be taken to address them."

Ms Madden, from Waspi, said the DWP's own research showed that women were not sufficiently aware of the changes "yet they failed to act".

"This inaction had devastating and life-altering impacts on women across the country," she said.


The ombudsman considered six sample cases, but said the DWP should apply any subsequent recommendations to all of those affected.

Campaigners have called for the state pension age for women affected to be returned to 60, and for these women to be refunded the pensions they had "lost" owing to the changes.

The ombudsman has no power to do so, but it can recommend compensation is paid to those affected by the DWP's maladministration.

There is no timeline for the remainder of its investigations, but it is planning to move as quickly as possible.

It is unable to recommend any change in policy, which could have brought much larger sums in compensation. A series of court decisions found in favour of the government in terms of the changing pension age itself.

A DWP spokesman said: "Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.

"In a move towards gender equality, it was decided more than 25 years ago to make the state pension age the same for men and women."

Comments

Caren Jennings 3 year ago
Has anyone else noticed that there is money for everything- Ukraine being the latest - but none for the Waspi women. This government seems to be ageist and sexist. This would not be tolerated if it had happened to men! Do not tell me it is about equality if it were we would have equal pay!
Ann McMorran 3 year ago
Oops OBFUSCATION !!!!!.☺☺
Ann McMorran 3 year ago
I agree it is very unfair. The Government employed actuaries to reduce the pensions bill over night. By approximately £50,000 for each woman. Saving mi!!ions of pounds. For what? Can you see where it went ? Falling oil revenues ? But why us?
Did the actuaries think, why not trick the women of the 50s into making the greatest contribution to the public purse in recent years. After all they are the generation of women that are already familiar with all of societies abuses that rob them of financial equality. Such as, paternalism, glass ceilings, sexism, physical abuse in the home and work place (without recourse ), wage inequality, job opportunity discrimination, child rearing issues. Convince them they are contributing to equality by levelling up their retirement age with men. Hide the true extent of their sacrifice in OBUSCATION. All of a sudden we are all equal. The other issues are gone ? If the other factors are gone and we are now equal with men why then are men in this age group still 70% better off than woman at retirement age.
Some actuary company got paid a lot to facilitate that lie I fear.
Maybe Government should stop trying to see into the future with actuary firms and start doing the right thing by their citizens. After all my £50,000 over 6 yeras would have been spent in my local economy in a multitude of ways thus creating a richer society in all senses of the word. For example, financially assisting economically hard pressed children, providing childcare to assist said children to work, be taxed, thus improving our economy. Spending our money in local shops, leisure activities for self and said families, charitable giving ( including war charities), using public transport. The benefits to me and our society of that £50,000 over 6 years would have been manifold.
The good we do cannot always be measured. We need to do the right thing by each other and the world. God is no mans debtor. He will always repay ! (KJV Bible) If you dont believe in God, ignore that arguement. Just doing the right thing always seems to make everyone feel better ! G
victoria thomas 4 year ago
I was born in 1954 and I never received a letter from the DWP letting me know that i would not receive my state pension, the practice manager where i worked told me i would not be getting it. I have mental health problems by trying to hold down a job which takes me out of my comfort zone because i need the money as i still have a mortgage. If i received back payment from the DWP i could retire. I still have a further two years to work, I am scared that i won't make it until I am 70. The workplace does not want old women. Thank goodness the firm i work for can't finish me because of my age as it would be classed as discrimination. I am weary and too tired to take part in anything outside my work. I work 8 - 5 five days a week. I have always paid a full stamp and want what I am entitled to. My older friends received their pension when they were 60 its so unfair.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×