A WASPI pensioner has blasted the Labour Government’s decision not to compensate her generation of women saying she feels “stabbed in the back”.
Colleen Webster, 69, had to wait six years longer than expected to claim her state pension, forcing her to claim benefits as she claims she struggled to get a job because of her age.
She is one of millions of 1950s-born women who were affected by the increase in the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 and then 66.
The WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners claim that many did not know of the change, destroying their retirement plans.
Ms Webster said that many WASPI women voted for Labour in the General Election in hopes they would grant compensation, as many individual politicians from the party had come out in support of the campaign.
But the Government announced last month there would be no compensation payouts for the women. This was despite a previous report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman saying there was ‘maladministration’ in the DWP’s efforts to tell the women of the change to their state pension age.
Voicing her frustration at the Labour Government, Ms Webster fumed: “Now they’re in power, they’ve turned their backs on us completely. We are so devastated to think that they have stabbed us in the back.
“I think they would have got in anyway in the General Election, but I know that their majority would not have been so large if it wasn’t for all the WASPI women voting for them.
“We honestly believed that they would pay our compensation, and for them to turn around and say they won’t do it, is unbelievable.”
The Government claimed that “the vast majority” of WASPI women knew their state pension age was going up, but Ms Webster said this was not the case for many women, including herself.
She only found out at the age of 59 that her state pension age would be 66 rather than 60, when she lost her job and went to the job centre to sign on Jobseekers’ Allowance. Her work coach told her she would have to wait another six years to claim her state pension.
Ms Webster said: “I had no idea whatsoever about that. That was horrendous. I remember going home crying my eyes out.”
She struggled to get a job given her age, forcing her to to claim benefits for almost seven years until she reached state pension age. She had to make a 26-mile round bus journey every two weeks to go and sign on at the job centre.
She said she thinks Labour will lose the next election as WASPI women are furious that the Government has decided not to provide payouts.
Despite the recent setback for the campaign, Ms Webster said the WASPI women will continue in their fight. She said: “We’re not going away. We’re still going to be emailing our MPs.”
A large number of MPs have previously come out in support of the WASPI cause, with many urging for payouts at a debate on the matter this week (January 15), in Westminster Hall.
Newly appointed pensions minister, Torsten Bell, presented a statement to defend the Government’s decision. He said: “The fact remains that the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing.
“Even for those who didn’t, we know that sending letters earlier would not have made a difference in most cases.
“So while I know this decision will be disappointing, as we are hearing, and many have had frustrations at watching this debate drag on for years, we believe it is the right course of action.”
