Thousands of WASPI women OWED compensation by DWP, landmark report finds – check if you’re due cash

THOUSANDS of women are owed compensation by the government, a landmark report has found.

Official findings published today by an ombudsman have called for WASPI women to be compensated.

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The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has today issued the report following an investigation into possible injustices resulting from raising women's retirement age in line with men's.

Those affected are referred to as WASPI (Women Against State Pension Age Inequality).

These are women who saw their pension age go up from 60 to 65.

To date, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has not acknowledged its failings nor put things right for those women affected, the ombudsman said.

In 2021, the body published the first stage of its report, which criticised the government for being too slow to inform women how they would be affected.

It has now published the second and third parts of its investigation, which deal with those communication failings and recommendations on compensation.

The ombudsman said it has proactively asked Parliament to intervene and hold the DWP to account.

Legally, the body isn't able to recommend the government reimburse women for the full amount of pension they did not receive.

However, it can recommend that at least some of those impacted receive payments of £10,000 or more, though it is not yet known how any compensation scheme would work.

It could be tricky to work out who actually is eligible for the cash.

Some critics have said that a blanket payment scheme wouldn't be able to distinguish between people who knew their state pension age was going up and others who hadn’t been properly contacted by the DWP and had suffered as a result.

It would also be pretty expensive, running into billions of pounds for the government.

Others don't believe the £10,000 figure would be adequate for some who believe they lost out on much more.

Who are WASPI women?

WASPI women refers to an estimated 3.8million women born in the 1950s who have been badly hit by a change in state pension age from 60 to 65.

The acronym stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality.

The women represented were born between April 6, 1950, and April 5, 1960.

Up until 2010, women could claim their state pension from their 60th birthday and men from 65.

But, from 2010 to 2018, the pension age for women gradually increased from 60 to 68, bringing it in line with men’s state pension age.

The women affected by this say the changes were implemented with little notice, leaving them without enough funds.

The shake-up was introduced by successive governments in 1995, 2007, and 2011 to bring women's state pension age in line with men and to account for the fact that people are both living and working for longer.

In February, an MP put forward a bill calling for a compensation scheme with payouts of at least £10,000 to help out those who were impacted.

What is the WASPI campaign?

The WASPI campaign was set up in 2015 in a bid to help those affected by the change in state pension age.

Campaigners say they agree with the equal retirement age between men and women and are not calling for a return to the former retirement age.

But they say they do not accept the unfair way the changes to the state pension age were implemented with "inadequate" or "no notice".

Many women had made life plans based on when they thought they were going to be able to retire.

When this was then pushed back, it left them in financial hardship as they waited extra years to receive their pension.

Millions of women suddenly faced unemployment, zero-hours contracts and a loss of independence, according to the group.

Some of the worst affected were the 300,000 women born between December 1953 and October 1954, who were made to wait an extra 18 months before they could retire.