27 February 2024 , 09:19
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Campaigners from Women Against Statement Pension Inequality (WASPI) have explained who could benefit from a potential Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) payout.
WASPI women were born in the 1950s and say they were not properly informed by the Government that their state pension age would increase by over five years. The group argue that their retirement plans, money and health have suffered due to not knowing their pension age had shot up.
An independent investigation was launched by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) five years ago and the group are expecting a key decision on their fight for compensation soon. They're hopeful that a huge compensation sum of £10,000 or more per person is recommended for those affected.
The voice of the SNP in Parliament, Alan Brown MP, has told his fellow MPs in the House of Commons that he thinks this figure would be the "most appropriate" amount if any payouts were to come from the DWP.
The changes that caused all the trouble were first brought in by the 1995 Conservative Government's State Pension Act. This changed the state pension age for ladies from 60 to 65 to match men, and the 2011 Pension Act, which made the state pension age even higher at 66 for everyone.
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Throughout their campaign, WASPI has explained who has been affected and, therefore, who would be in line for any compensation offered. They said: "Because of the way the increases were brought in, women born in the 1950s - on or after April 6 1950 to April 5, 1960 - have been hit particularly hard. Significant changes to the age we receive our state pension have been imposed upon us with a lack of appropriate notification, with little or no notice and much faster than we were promised some of us have been hit by more than one increase."
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In total, around 3.8 million women are believed to be affected by the change. WASPI also says that since 2015, 270,000 of these women have died without getting any money back for the pension changes they faced. This has saved the Treasury over £4billion, according to campaigners.
WASPI points out that it took 14 years after the 1995 Pensions Act for letters to be sent to women born from April 6, 1951, to April 5, 1953. Many of these women got a letter about their retirement age going up just one year before they were supposed to get their pension. And lots of others only had two, three, four or five years' warning.
WASPI highlights: "Women were given as little as one year's notice of up to a six-year increase to their state pension age, compared to men who received six year's notice of a one-year rise to their state pension age. Many women report receiving no letter ever and others say letters were sent to the wrong address despite notifying the DWP of the address change."
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