Waspi women, which stands for Women Against State Pension Injustice (or Inequality, as there are now two campaigns), were hit by moves to bring the state pension age into line with men in the Pensions Act 1995. This affected women born in the 1950s, who argued that they were not given sufficient warning of the change.
Some did not realise until the last minute that they would have to work for five or six years longer, and suffered massive hardship as a result.
The campaign began in earnest in 2015, as the impact of the changes began to make themselves felt. It got a massive boost in July 2021, following what Waspi women saw as a supportive ruling by the Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should have written individual letters to affected women 28 months before it finally sent them out, which it called “maladministration”.
That raised hopes of compensation, and although campaigners refused to put a finger on it, some were hoping for huge sums after claiming to have lost up to £50,000 each.
Unfortunately, the Ombudsman ruling was just the first of a three-stage process, which has since dragged on and on.
More than 250,000 Waspi women have died with no state pension payments. Now it looks like the rest may get no compensation, according to Westminster lobby blogger David Hencke.
He pins the blame on DWP “intransigence”, because it has steadfastly refused to pay a penny in compensation. Now Ombudsman Rob Behrens has “capitulated”.
After six years of deliberations, he is going to recommend… nothing.
