DWP WASPI ‘compensation’ update as one month countdown begins | Personal Finance | Finance


Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign leaders have issued an update as a one-month countdown begins.

The WASPI initiative was set up to help women who have been negatively affected by their pension age going up, after not being properly notified about it. Affected women, who were born in the 1950s, say they were not correctly informed by the Government that their State Pension age would increase by more than five years.

In March, it said WASPI women should be issued compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 each, with Parliament told to “act swiftly” in issuing the cash. And with the Tories heading for defeat in the July general election, many WASPI women were hoping a Labour victory would mean the money they are owed would finally arrive.

Back in May, then-leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer blasted the Tories and said: “The Ombudsman’s report came out I don’t know how many months ago now and the Government should have responded and they haven’t done so … it is shocking that the Government hasn’t dealt with it.” But his own Government has yet to pay out any compensation either.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver Labour’s first Budget on Wednesday October 30, and at the beginning of September, she told the BBC it would involve “difficult decisions” on tax, spending and benefits, with it looking unlikely that WASPI compensation will be a priority.

WASPI campaigners are now calling on others to join them as they conduct a demonstration in Parliament Square on October 30. A post on WASPI social media feeds reads: “WASPI women have traditionally gathered outside Parliament on such days, but this year we are asking all our supporters to go one step further.

“This is your opportunity to make your voice heard, as thousands of WASPI women renew their calls for fair and fast compensation on Budget Day.”



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