Women celebrating pension step ahead

Thousands of West Lothian women who faced financial hardship due to the change in the state pension age change are celebrating after a ruling this week could open the way to compensation.

Many women born in the 1950s were severely financially impacted when the state pension age was rasied to 65 in 2018, bringing it in line with men.

They have argued for years that they were not given enough notice by the government and this week the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) agreed.

The report said the women are owned compensation – including over 6000 in West Lothian – and the government should “do the right thing”.

It suggests women should receive a payout of between £1,000 and £2,950. But campaigners want £10,000 each.

A spokesperson for Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) West Lothian welcomed the news, saying “irrevocable financial decisions were made”.

Carla O’Hara, co-ordinator of WASPI West Lothian group, said: “For many women this lack of notice had serious consequences. Irrevocable financial decisions were made.

“Some women had to sell their homes, others continued working in jobs they were no longer fit for or had to break their promises to look after grandchildren or elderly relatives.

“1950s women were particularly hard hit by this last-minute change to their plans. They had already faced many injustices in their lives as antidiscrimination laws were not introduced until the mid-seventies and inequalities eg equal pay, access to works pensions and maternity leave.

“The Ombudsman’s final report severely criticises the DWP for their bad practice.

“He has no faith in the DWP accepting his recommendations as they don’t accept his finding of maladministration, so he has taken the unusual step of referring his report direct to parliament for remedy rather than to the DWP.

“This means that MPs will have to take responsibility for finding a remedy.

“On average, WASPIs make up eight per cent of the population in each UK constituency.

“They are one of the most likely age groups to vote and the majority haven’t yet decided which party to vote for.

“We need fair and fast compensation.” Hannah Bardell MP added: “Millions of women born in the 1950s have been robbed of their hard-earned pensions by this Westminster government.

“The way these women have been treated by the Tories is shameful.

“The SNP has long campaigned for justice for WASPI women, and we will continue to do so until justice is restored.”

Under the 1995 Pensions Act, plans were made to equalise the age at which men and women could draw their state pension.

The proposal had been to raise the qualifying age for women from 60 to 65 and to phase in that change from 2010 to 2020.

But the coalition government of 2010 decided to speed that up, bringing the qualifying age of 65 for women forward to 2018.

Three years ago the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions was guilty of maladministration in failing to give proper notice to 3.8 million women born in the 1950s whose State Pension Age was subjected to a series of changes.

Of these, approximately 6,400 women are affected in West Lothian.

Since then, the Ombudsman has been investigating whether this maladministration resulted in injustice – and if so, how the women involved should be compensated.

The government said it would consider the report and respond in due course.