A WASPI woman says she feels “stabbed in the back” by the new Labour Party government after her fight for a £2,950 compensation payout was rejected. The Ombdusman’s report last year said WASPI women should receive compensation ranging from £1k to £2,950.
The 1995 Pension Act and the 2011 Pension Act saw the state pension age for women born in the 1950s change from 60 to 65 and then 66. Many women only received a letter advising them of the changes within a year or less of their expected state pension age of 60.
Some found themselves retiring from employment on a Friday, only to find they couldn’t claim their pension on the following Monday but would have to wait six more years. Colleen Webster is one of the women impacted who won’t see a penny after Labour’s refusal in December.
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She said: “Now they’re in power, they’ve turned their backs on us completely. We are so devastated to think that they have stabbed us in the back.” The Parliamentary Ombudsman damned the Department of Work and Pensions and vindicated the WASPI campaign. The DWP were found guilty of maladministration and the Ombudsman made it clear that affected women should be compensated.
Collen said: “I think they would have got in anyway in the General Election, but I know that their majority would not have been so large if it wasn’t for all the WASPI women voting for them. We honestly believed that they would pay our compensation, and for them to turn around and say they won’t do it, is unbelievable.”
Ms Webster said: “I had no idea whatsoever about that. That was horrendous. I remember going home crying my eyes out.” She said: “We’re not going away. We’re still going to be emailing our MPs.” In December when Liz Kendall said 90 per cent of the WASPI women knew about the change in their pension age and the Secretary of State flatly rejected compensation.