The annual benefits uprating was approved in Parliament last week, which means that most benefits and State Pension will rise by 10.1 per cent in April. During the debate before the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2023 was submitted to the House of Commons, several MPs called on the UK Government not to forget the plight of WASPI women.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, now an Independent MP, SNP’s David Linden and Amy Callaghan, along with Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain, all took the opportunity to highlight the ongoing challenges faced by millions of women born in the 1950s who missed out on State Pension following the change in retirement age from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and November 2018.
The 1995 Pensions Act increased the State Pension age for women to 65 in order to equalise the age with men. 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.
