Waspi campaigners call payout denial ‘a cruel blow to a generation of women’
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Compensation to up to 3.8 million women affected by the changes could have cost the government £10.5 billion, Liz Kendall says. Campaigners called the government’s decision not to compensate the millions of women affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated “bizarre and totally unjustified”.
![[The Labour government is facing a barrage of criticism over the decision]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/14/26cddd550449df181065133421d1ee79Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0NTMwNjIx-2.78028741.jpg)
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall rejected calls for individuals affected to be awarded between £1,000 and £2,950 each, adding the government does not believe it to be a fair use of taxpayers’ money. The Labour government is also facing a barrage of criticism from MPs over the decision, some of which is coming from within its own party.
![[Waspi chairwoman Angela Madden said Parliament must now seek an alternative mechanism to force the issue]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/14/f7677ee0d5483a1a8a2f026b12b2eb02Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0NTMwMjA3-2.75681296.jpg)
Compensation to up to 3.8 million women affected by the changes could have cost the government £10.5 billion, Ms Kendall said. In a statement, she said: “These two facts: that most women knew the state pension age was increasing and that letters aren’t as significant as the Ombudsman says, as well as other reasons, have informed our conclusion that there should be no scheme of financial compensation to 1950s-born women, in response to the Ombudsman’s report.”.
![[Women Against State Pension Inequality campaigners staged a protest outside Parliament on the day of the Budget in October]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/15/4d4c8e2c1c60a484013bc64c086a6f7aY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0NTMzODYw-2.78023911.jpg)
Angela Madden, chairwoman of Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi), criticised the decision, adding it is something that “would make the likes of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump blush”. “The government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog which ordered ministers urgently to compensate Waspi women nine months ago,” she said.
![[Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall rejected calls for individuals affected to be compensated]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/17/15/SEI233560658.jpg)
