First Minister and Secretary of State for Wales slammed after WASPI women U-turn

Plaid Cymru has criticised senior Welsh Labour politicians after the UK Government confirmed it would not compensate women who say they missed out after changes to the State Pension age.

Women born in the 1950s have been campaigning for compensation since 2015 over the failure to provide adequate notice about changes in the State Pension age to bring it in line with men.

The WASPI campaign say that 3.8 million women were “hit particularly hard” when the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) raised the State Pension age for women but failed to properly communicate with them.

Work and Pensions secretary, Liz Kendall announced today (17 December) that the UK Government would not be compensating women affected, while accepting a finding by the Ombudsman of maladministration, and apologising for a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women.

[mid-content-banner]

Injustice

Plaid Cymru Work and Pensions spokesperson, Ann Davies MP, has pointed out that both Welsh First Minister, Eluned Morgan and Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, had previously promised that a Labour UK Government would end the “injustice”.

In 2018, Eluned Morgan supported women “fighting for justice” and pledged that a Labour Government “will put this right”.

In 2019, Jo Stevens said that she had led demonstrations in London and Cardiff, as well as bringing a petition in support of the women in Parliament.

She said she was “proud that a UK Labour Government will end the historic pension injustice for 1950s women”.

[taboola-banner]

Repeated promises

Ann Davies said: “Today, the UK Labour Government confirmed they will not provide any financial compensation to the WASPI women, despite repeated promises. 1950s-born women deserve full and fair compensation for the failures of the UK Government.

“I call on the Secretary of State for Wales and the First Minister to explain how their previous commitment to ending 1950s-born women’s pension injustice is consistent with the decision today to refuse any compensation. Many women across Wales will feel badly let down by Welsh Labour.”

Earlier, Plaid Cymru Equalities spokesperson, Llinos Medi MP, said in the House of Commons:“Today’s announcement is a huge blow to 1950s-born women affected by State Pension changes that have campaigned tirelessly for justice and accountability – including for maladministration that the Secretary of State today has admitted took place.

“The Secretary of State justifies today’s statement by promising ‘jobs, homes, and opportunities’.

“Considering one affected woman dies every 13 minutes, can she tell me how exactly this will benefit 1950s born retired women?”

[lower-mid-content-banner]

Flat rate

“The Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5 billion would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers,” Liz Kendall told the Commons.

In a statement, she said: “These two facts: that most women knew the state pension age was increasing and that letters aren’t as significant as the Ombudsman says, as well as other reasons, have informed our conclusion that there should be no scheme of financial compensation to 1950s-born women, in response to the Ombudsman’s report.”

She added: “The alternative put forward in the report is for a flat rate compensation scheme, at level four of the Ombudsman’s scale of injustice, this would provide £1,000 to £2,950 per person at a total cost of £3.5 billion and 10.5 billion.

“Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5 billion would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers.”