{"id":209657,"date":"2025-10-18T21:37:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T21:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209657\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T21:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T21:37:21","slug":"labour-government-waiting-for-waspi-generation-to-die-to-avoid-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209657\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour Government ‘waiting for Waspi generation to die to avoid compensation’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The UK Government<\/a> has refused to set up a compensation scheme for women born in the 1950s, whose state pension age was raised so it would be equal with men.\n<\/p>\n

\n Despite Labour vowing to support Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality<\/a>) women before they won power in Westminster<\/a>, they stopped compensation from being paid.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Labour and Greens tied in new poll as Keir Starmer’s party plummets to historic low<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n An attempt by SNP<\/a> Westminster<\/a> leader Stephen Flynn<\/a> to set up a compensation scheme was blocked in the House of Commons<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n And now, fellow MP Graham Leadbitter has raised the hundreds of thousands of women who have died since the campaign for justice and compensation began in 2015.\n<\/p>\n

\n In December, the Moray<\/a> West, Nairn and Strathspey MP raised the issue at PMQs<\/a>, where figures showed 300,000 women had died waiting for justice, approximately 111 per day.\n<\/p>\n

\n That figure has now reached more than 391,000, according to the Waspi campaign website.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: NQ)\n<\/p>\n

\n The campaign group, at time of writing, say the 391,997 women who died have saved the Treasury over \u00a35 billion.\n<\/p>\n

\n Leadbitter (above) said: \u201cLabour\u2019s victory at the election was an opportunity for them to deliver on their multiple pledges to support the Waspi women, instead they decided to abandon yet another promise by starting a morbid waiting game.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Labour Ministers who once posed for photos with the Waspi women to secure votes are now sickeningly waiting for the Waspi generation to die so they can avoid paying out what these women are owed.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut if Labour thinks they\u2019ll shut up or go away they have another thing coming – the Waspi women are some of the most dedicated, hardworking activists I\u2019ve ever met and I stand with them 100% in their campaign.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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\n Leadbitter added the failure of Labour to support Waspi women was not just \u201canother broken promise\u201d, but an \u201cugly, but accurate, portrayal of the cruelty of this Westminster government who also stripped pensioners of their winter fuel payment in the run up to a freezing winter\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n He added: \u201cMy SNP<\/a> colleagues and I will continue to campaign for the justice and financial redress the WASPI women, right across the UK, are owed, but this whole issue highlights another reason why people in Scotland would be better off free from Westminster with independence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n A report by the Parliamentary and Health<\/a> Service Ombudsman (PHSO) had recommended the scheme should be set up last December.\n<\/p>\n

\n The watchdog also said the women should be paid up to \u00a32950 each, a package with a potential total cost of \u00a310.5 billion to the public purse, as poor communication meant they had lost out on the chance to plan their retirement finances.\n<\/p>\n

\n Angela Madden, chair of Waspi, said: \u201cLabour has so far been a real let down at Westminster, but there is time yet for the worm to turn.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere have been other Labour U-turns, and we expect the courts to force a rethink at the end of this year.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe appreciate Graham\u2019s support, as we do the support of so many MPs across party lines including within Labour.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe are determined to win this campaign for Waspi women in every part of the United Kingdom.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Waspi are currently challenging the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP<\/a>) decision to refuse compensation in the High Court.\n<\/p>\n

\n A hearing is scheduled for December, but the final decision is unlikely to be made until spring 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\n A DWP<\/a> spokesperson said: \u201cWe have published the full reasons for the decision.\n<\/p>\n

\n “We have apologised for there being a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women.\n<\/p>\n

\n “However, we do not agree with the Ombudsman\u2019s approach to injustice or remedy and that is why we have decided not to pay compensation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK Government has refused to set up a compensation scheme for women born in the 1950s, whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-209657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}