Community / Call to rethink WASPI compensation ‘injustice’
SHETLAND’s two Lib Dems parliamentarians have reacted with disbelief and anger to news that women affected by the change in the state pension age will not be compensated by the new Labour government.
A parliamentary ombudsman had recommended compensation payments of between £1,000 to £2,950 to each of the three million WASPI (Women Against State Pension Injustice) women affected by the poorly communicated change.
But according to chancellor Rachel Reeves the £10 billion compensation bill could not be justified as most women had known about the changes and investing money in improving public services was more important.
Gradual changes to the pension age have seen some women, who were born in the 1950s, placed in a position where they may have had to work years more than anticipated before being able to claim the state pension.
The government had previously conceded there had been delays in sending out letters to women regarding changes to the pension age.
Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart said the UK Government must rethink its decision.
“This announcement flies in the face of the findings the independent parliamentary and health service ombudsman who acknowledged a failure by the UK Government to provide those women who would be impacted by state pension changes with accurate and timely information and that those affected should receive compensation,” she said.
“Campaigners have long fought this battle and I will be with them as a member of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group for WASPI as they continue to press for their compensation.
“The UK Government must rethink this decision and redress the unfairness brought upon many women.”
Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael added: “The findings of the independent parliamentary and health service ombudsman were clear: the government failed to provide accurate, adequate and timely information to women affected by the state pension changes.
“The ombudsman was equally clear that those affected deserve compensation. It is hard to see how the government can reject that basic conclusion.
“Government budgets may be under pressure but there is no point in having the ombudsman make such a ruling if we do not respect its findings, which were themselves far from what the women affected were hoping for.
“The women involved have tirelessly campaigned for justice and deserve our admiration for their persistence.
“We cannot of course forget the malpractice of the outgoing Conservative government in all this. Sitting on the ombudsman’s report for months before the election and cynically refusing to allocate any funding for compensation was utterly irresponsible and directly led to the mess we have today.”
Age Scotland’s chief executive Katherine Crawford added: “The rise to state pension age left millions of women in great hardship, and WASPI campaigners have been fighting for many years to address this injustice.
“Unfortunately, the calls and recommendations of this campaign have continuously fallen on deaf ears at Westminster. “[This] decision will be deeply disappointing for those affected, when they had rightly been hoping for vindication and fair compensation following the recommendations clearly outlined in the ombudsman’s report.”
In 2019 Shetland’s councillors united to call on the UK Government to make arrangements for women born in the 1950s who have “unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the state pension age”.
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