In opposition, Labour promised compensation for older women affected by changes in the pension age, but now are refusing to do so, so austerity continues to reign, reports Laura Penketh

In yet another betrayal, Labour’s Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, has announced that Waspi women will not be compensated for pension losses incurred by the rapid introduction of pension-age reform.

An estimated 3.6 million women born in the 1950s were not properly informed of the rise in state-pension age introduced by the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition in 2011. For most of the post-war period, women’s retirement age was sixty, that of men, 65. Under the Pensions Act (1995) plans were put in place to equalise the pension age – not by bringing the age of retirement down to sixty for men, but raising it to 65 for women. The ‘equalisation plan’ suggested a phased implementation of the legislation being introduced between 2010 and 2020.

However, the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition in 2010 introduced the Pensions Act (2011) which brought the ‘equalised’ retirement age forward to 2018. The result was that women born in the 1950s, expecting to retire at sixty, suddenly found that they were expected to work longer. Making matters worse, the general retirement age went up, so instead of retiring at sixty, they were now expected to retire at 63 (by 2016), 65 (by 2018) and 66 (by 2020).

The campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) has made clear that thousands of women were not informed of the changes and thousands more simply didn’t realise what the changes meant for them. The Waspi women’s campaign gained support from unions and many Labour MPs. Starmer himself (when in opposition, of course) made it clear this was (another) state scandal.

In 2019, Angela Rayner made it clear that Labour would ‘right the injustice’ the Waspi women suffered, within the five years of a Labour government. She said the women had a ‘contract’ with the state, that had been broken, and Labour would fully support their compensation claim.

Nine months ago, the Parliamentary Ombudsman recommended that compensation should be paid to all those women affected. The Waspi campaign demanded £10,000 per person. It was a very reasonable sum, given it would not cover lost pension and, of course, many of the women had extra years of working where they had paid tax and national insurance they hadn’t expected to pay. 

The Ombudsman however only recommended payments of between £1000 and £2,950. The indications from Labour, pre-election, were that they would ensure justice for the Waspi women. Today the full extent of their betrayal is clear for all to see.

Alongside the cuts to winter fuel allowance and the maintenance of the two-child benefit cap, this latest insult to older working-class women reveals Stammer and company to be a nasty, parsimonious government, cutting benefits and services for working people whilst leaving rich billionaires alone to enrich themselves at a cost to us all.