I wasn’t going to do a blog on the Government’s response to the Ombudsman’s report on WASPI, but then I thought, hey, it’s always useful to revisit the data on any argument. So here we go! Without taking a position, here are the pertinent facts:
From 1940 onwards, Men’s State Pension age (Spa) was 65 and women’s was age 60.
In 1991 the Government announced that in response to increases in longevity, women’s SPa would rise between 2020 and 2020 to age 65.
In 2011, the Government sped up the rise to women’s SPa so it would take place between 2010 and November 2018. This allowed for further rises to be brought forward – to age 66 for both men and women by 2020. This move was in response to further unexpected increases in life expectancy.
This change (in 2011) meant that 2.6 million women and 2.3 million men would have a higher SPa than under previous legislation, with very little notice. 500,000 women would have to wait for more than a year longer and 245,000 would have to wait more than 18 months, no men would have to wait for more than a year (PPI, DWP).
As it is generally accepted that people need 10 to 15 years notice of SPa rises in order to have time to change their plans, this move was seen as particularly unfair on the affected women.
In response, the Government changed the timetable, moving the rise back by six months and ensuring that no woman would have to wait longer than an extra 18 months for her SPa.
At this point, those concerned (campaigners and a group of the affected women themselves) were grouping and the WASPI campaign was founded in 2015.
Those concerned did not feel the Government’s amendments had gone far enough.
WASPI claimed that this small amendment did not address the greater issue, which was that women had been insufficiently informed of the original SPa rise to age 65, and that many women were being caught out by higher SPas and suffering financially as a result. WASPI believes that if women had been given sufficient information in time they could have made plans to work for longer or save more and not found themselves in financial difficulties.
Who are the WASPI women? The women in concern are those born between 6th April 1950 and 5th April 1960 – around 3.8 million women.
Where are they now? The majority of the WASPI women are now over SPa, though those born between 1958 and 1960 have a further two years to wait.
How much have they lost? That depends on how long they had to wait and what other income they had. Some WASPI women will have been in work, some will have been on benefits. Those who had/have health problems or were/are providing care will have found the changes especially difficult as they have fewer opportunities to return to work. Estimates by the women affected vary, with this article quoting amounts of £39,000 and £45,000 for different women.
What’s happening now? In March 2024 The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) reported post their investigation and recommended that affected women be compensated.
Then on Tuesday this week (17.12.24), the Government responded by saying they would not compensate any of these women because they believe that sufficient numbers of women were aware of the changes and it would be very expensive to provide this compensation.
I don’t really know what will happen next. WASPI have been a tenacious group and still going strong ten years later. The PHSO’s report will have been a victory for them and I imagine the Government’s response was a disappointment. Especially as when not in power, Labour has occasionally stated an intention to compensate WASPI women.
Whatever happens next, I suspect we will be hearing more from WASPI…
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