The government has decided that no compensation should be paid to WASPI women, despite reconsidering the case after new evidence came to light.
The announcement comes amid a High Court legal challenge between Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners and senior government lawyers, which was due to begin on 9th December. However, the government withdrew from the process to reconsider new evidence which emerged from 2007.
The WASPI campaign centres around the pension age of women born between 1954 and 1960, who were affected by the 1995 Pensions Act which increased women's state pension age from 60 to 66, in line with men.
Ministers accepted wrongdoing in December 2024 but refused to pay any compensation to the 3.5 million affected women, despite the Parliamentary Ombudsman recommending payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden later admitted that undisclosed evidence from 2007 was not shown to his predecessor Liz Kendall when she decided to deny the compensation. However, WASPI says the evidence is one of the DWP’s own surveys from 2007.
McFadden said he would look again at the decision, but stressed that it would not necessarily mean WASPI women would get compensation.
In an update today, the government said a flat-rate compensation scheme would "cost up to £10.3bn and would simply not be right or fair given it would be paid to the vast majority who were aware of the changes", adding that individual compensation "would not be practical to set up".
Angela Madden, chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said: “Ministers have demonstrated their utter contempt for 1950s-born women, for Parliament and for the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
“The government has kicked the can down the road for months, only to arrive at exactly the same conclusion it has always wanted to.
“This is a disgraceful political choice by a small group of very powerful people who have decided the harm and injustice suffered by millions of ordinary women simply does not matter.
“The Parliamentary Ombudsman says economic circumstances should not be used as an excuse to deny compensation. The government has magically found billions to fund policies not made in their election manifesto, proving money can quickly become available when ministers consider something a priority.
“WASPI is taking legal advice, and all options remain on the table. We stand ready to pursue every avenue in Parliament and in the courts to secure the justice that has been so shamefully denied.”
