State pensioners' fury as Rachel Reeves fails to commit to payout for 3.6 million women

WASPI campaigners, numbering in the hundreds, demonstrated their anger outside Parliament as Rachel Reeves did not mention compensation in her Budget speech. Ministers are facing demands to provide payouts to 3.6 million women impacted by the shift in state pension age.

A significant report published in March suggested compensating victims with amounts ranging from £1,000 to £2,995 due to the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) missteps, which could cost taxpayers up to £10 billion. Yet, in light of the Chancellor's silence on the issue, the WASPI group's chief has stated that those affected "cannot continue to be patient".

The controversy involves women born in the 1950s who were inadequately informed about the increase in state pension age. The WASPI group estimates around 25,000 members have passed away since the groundbreaking Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report earlier this year.

Angela Madden, the chairwoman of WASPI, commented: "Millions of women's retirement plans were thrown into chaos, many suffering extreme financial and mental hardships and this is why we are here today. Affected women have been vindicated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report, parliament must compensate all affected women, yet months on we're yet to receive an official response from the Labour Party.

"With one affected woman dying every 13 minutes, we cannot continue to be patient. There are hundreds of MPs from across the House backing fair and fast compensation, now Ministers must deliver."

The budget included £11.8 billion for victims of the contaminated blood scandal and an additional £1.8 billion for those affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal. However, no funds were allocated for women impacted by the change in state pension agereports the Mirror.

According to campaigners, these women lost an average of £50,000 in state pension payments due to the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) failure to inform them of the increase in state pension age from 60 to 65 and then to 66.The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group estimates that over 110 affected women die daily.

In July, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall pledged to work with the WASPI campaign, stating: "We are determined to deal with these problems and not run away from them." Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the government to clarify its intentions, saying: "The Liberal Democrats have long supported fair and fast compensation for WASPI women, and we will continue to advocate for the millions of women across the country awaiting justice.

"In the absence of a commitment to compensation from the Chancellor today, ministers must urgently implement the findings of the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report without further delay. " Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer stated: "The previous government kicked the can down the road, and now the Labour Party must act.

"With the Chancellor failing to commit to compensate those affected today, and tens of thousands of pensioners struggling to make ends meet, ministers must urgently set out their plans to compensate those affected." Labour had not pledged to provide compensation during the General Election campaign. When questioned by The Mirror regarding Labour's stance, Keir Starmer replied: "What I'm not going to do is stand here and make promises that I don't think we can afford.

"I'm going to look at the Ombudsman's recommendations if we're privileged to come into power. Someone should have looked at them, it should have been responded to, they've kicked it into the long grass."

He further noted that Labour would address the issue if they came into power, among other challenges. Prior to Parliament's dissolution due to Rishi Sunak's snap election announcement, ministers had not provided a response to the report.