Labour MP Kate Osborne has called on the UK Government to “urgently put forward a compensation package” for women born in the 1950s who have been affected by changes to their State Pension age. An estimated 3.8million women across Great Britain missed out on State Pension payments due to a change in retirement age.
Between April 2010 and November 2018, it rose from 60 to 65 for women, and in October 2020 it increased to 66 for both men and women. However, in July 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to communicate the changes with enough urgency, finding it guilty of "maladministration", and is currently investigating the harm caused.
During the Budget debate on Gender Equality in Parliament on Tuesday, the MP for Jarrow, said: “The Spring Budget failed women. It failed young women, women in work and pensioners.”
Ms Osborne continued: “Women are more likely to rely on and work in public services, and this Budget made their lives worse, not better.
“Most of the UK’s poorest pensioners are single women, and the gender pensions gap needs to be addressed. Will he agree to urgently put forward a compensation package to deal with the injustice faced by 1950s women - the WASPI [Women Against State Pension Inequality] women?”
Treasury minister John Glen, responded: “I don’t accept that. I think the WASPI issue has been covered many times by ministers from the Department for Work and Pensions and elsewhere
“We put £4.1billion by 2027/28 to expand free childcare. This Government has a record to be proud of. We’ve increased the number of women in full-time work.
“We’ve introduced shared parental leave, we have the Domestic Abuse Bill and we made a range of interventions last week that I think many women up and down the country will be very pleased with.”
It’s important to note that the changes to childcare do not apply in Scotland.
To keep up to date with the latest State Pension news, join our Money Saving Scotland Facebook page here, follow us on Twitter @Record_Money, or subscribe to our newsletter which goes out Monday to Friday - sign up here.
READ NEXT
- People of State Pension age could be due up to £1,350 cost of living payments
People of State Pension age living on their own could be due an extra £201 each week from April
DWP urged to do the ‘right thing’ for WASPI women over State Pension age compensation
Specific group of older people will not get new State Pension payment rates starting in April
