Rachel Reeves: improving services more important than Waspi women payout
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Chancellor says high cost of compensation cannot be justified because most of women affected had known pension changes were coming. Improving public services is a higher priority than spending £10bn compensating Waspi women, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, as MPs and campaigners criticised the decision to reject the watchdog’s recommendation for a flat-rate compensation scheme.
Her comments came after campaigners accused Labour of hypocrisy for having promised to compensate women hit by the rising state pension age. The parliamentary ombudsman had recommended paying out £1,000 to £2,950 to each of the more than 3 million women affected.
Reeves said the “expensive compensation bill” could not be justified as most women said they did know about the pension age changes. Reeves, who backed the Waspi campaign in opposition, said: “I understand that women affected by the changes to the state pension age feel disappointed by this decision, but we looked in full at the ombudsman recommendations and they said that around 90% of women did know that these changes were coming.
“And as chancellor, I have to account for every penny of taxpayers’ money spent. And given that the vast majority of people did know about these changes, I didn’t judge that it would be the best use of taxpayers’ money to pay an expensive compensation bill for something that most people knew was happening.”.
Rebecca Hilsenrath, the ombudsman, criticised the government’s decision not to offer compensation. She told Times Radio: “It’s great that the government are saying that our intervention will lead to service improvements and it’s fair to say also that people who come to us, overwhelmingly, are motivated by wanting things to improve for other people.
