WASPI campaigners are continuing their fight for compensation (Image: Getty)
WASPI campaigners (Women Against State Pension Inequality) have appeared before a Government committee to make their case for compensation.
Campaign chair, Angela Madden, told the Work and Pensions Committee today (January 22) how the group was “shocked” at the Government’s decision last month that there would no compensation scheme.
She attended an evidence session for the committee, alongside Debbie de Spon, communications director for the campaign.
The campaigners are calling for compensation for the 1950s-born women affected when their age increased from 60 to 65 and then to 66.
They claim they were not properly informed of the change by the . The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found there was “maladministration” in how they were informed, recommending payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950.
Ms Madden described for the extra years’ wait affected her generation of women, saying: “Many of us had to use our savings, or rather than helping our families as we would like to, our families had to help us. That felt demeaning.”
She said some WASPI women were forced to sell their homes and move into rented accommodation to find the funds, adding that some were “impoverished” as they had to wait the extra years five or six years for their .
In announcing the decision not to compensate, Labour argued that “the vast majority” of the women knew of the change, that sending out letters would not have made a big difference.
Ministers also said it would be a poor use of taxpayers’ money to splash out on a compensation scheme. But Ms Madden pointed out that the Ombudsman has said the availability of resources should not be a barrier to compensation.
She told the committee: “Resources have always been tight. It is difficult for the Government to make these sorts of compensation schemes. But with respect, that’s the job. The Government is in the job to fix things that have gone wrong.”
On the question of the next steps for the campaign, Ms de Spon said: “We’ll take legal advice as to what our options and we’ll continue to lobby and talk with our MPs and supporters that we have in Parliament.
“We know that we have an enormous amount of support in Parliament. There was a debate last Wednesday [January 15] where MPs from all parties spoke very passionately about their concern.”
She also expressed the WASPI women’s disappointment at the Government’s decision, saying: “They feel disempowered, they feel airbrushed out of history.”
Ms Madden pointed out that the Ombudsman had recommended that Parliament take up the issue rather than the Government simply issuing a decision.
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WASPI campaign chair Angela Madden speaking to the MPs (Image: Parliament TV)
She explained: “Those MPs represent us. If our representatives in Parliament aren’t given their say, that cuts out another aspect of democracy.”
Karl Bannister, deputy ombudsman at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, told the committee he was pleased the Government had accepted mistakes were made and had issued an apology.
But he also had some criticisms of the Government’s announcement, saying: “It’s not helpful in our view that the Government has undermined that in some of the ways it’s responded.
“In saying, we don’t accept that some of the women didn’t know, picking out some aspects of the surveys but not all the surveys of the women’s knowledge. It would have been better if there had just been a straight ‘we accept there was maladministration’.”
He was also dubious about the Government’s claim that sending out letters to advise the women would not have made a difference.
He said: “The Government at the time considered the right thing to do was to send letters to people to increase awareness. It didn’t do it, that’s the maladministration.
“It’s quite difficult to point back and say, we don’t think letters would have worked. The whole point about communicating, and we find this with complainants who come to us, is that you have to expect that people have all sorts of ways that they receive information.
“Different demographics have different preferences. Of course, you’ll find all sorts of people who were aware, but we also know that people engage in all sorts of ways, and letters are a key part of doing that.”