WASPI women handed boost from Labout in battle for £2,950 payouts from DWP

Labour promised to offer compensation of up to £31,300 for WASPI women impacted in its 2019 manifesto.

WASPI women have been handed a huge boost in their pursuits of £2,950 payouts from the Department for Work and Pensions. The Commons heard from a Labour Party MP who urged the government to "accept" the Ombusdman's recommendations from earlier this year.

In March, the parliamentary ombudsman found that the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) had failed to adequately communicate changes to the women’s state pension age when they were announced in 1995. It recommended a payout of up to £2,950 to the thousands of women affected – known as “Waspis” – which campaigners have called “an absolute insult”.

The ombudsman also said that complainants should not have to wait and see whether DWP would take action to rectify its failings. Labour promised to offer compensation of up to £31,300 for WASPI women impacted in its 2019 manifesto.

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Andy McDonald, Labour for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, reached out in the Commons "to ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she accepts the findings of maladministration in her Department in the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024."

Emma Reynolds, Labour for Wycombe, replied in a written statement: "As a newly formed Government we will need time to review and consider the Ombudsman’s report along with the evidence provided during the investigation. Now the election has concluded we need to consider the views that have been expressed on all sides.

"The issues outlined in the report are significant and complex, as such they require serious deliberation. Once this work has been undertaken, the Government will be in a position to outline its approach." Ms Reynolds said: "As part of this work, I met with representatives from the WASPI Campaign on the 5 September."