Waspi hits back at Labour as £3,000 state pension compensation in doubt: 'Time is not on our side!'

Analysis of a National Audit Office (NAO) report has revealed £84billion has been promised by previous administrations to compensation schemes which have been set up to address historic injustices.

According to The Independent, billions have been pledged towards 12 compensation initiatives to rectify previous cover-ups, Government negligence and wrong by the state.

Notably, some £47billion is owed towards the victims of high profile cases, such as the Horizon Post Office and infected blood scandals, but Waspi women have been left in the lurch.

This is despite the fact that the Parliament and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guilty of "maladministration" in 2021.

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This was in relation to the Government department's handling of the state pension age equalisation between men and women with thousands claiming to have not been adequately informed of the changes.

As a result of this error, thousands of women born in the 1950s were unable to save sufficiently for retirement due to having left the workforce or believing they could start claiming their state pension earlier than expected.

In March 2024, a follow-up report from the PHSO determined that those impacted by the change could be entitled to a Level 4 amount of compensation in a win for the Waspi campaign.

If implemented, this would mean Waspi women would be entitled to a compensation payout worth anywhere between £1,000 and £2,950 each which is far less than the £10,000 sum that was initially lobbied for.

Despite the PHSO's findings, neither Labour or the Conservative Party pledged to put forward a compensation payout during the General Election campaign which has disappointed campaigners.

A spokesperson for the Waspi campaign told GB News: "Campaigners were vindicated earlier this year when a landmark Parliamentary Ombudsman report ordered ministers to apologise and urgently pay compensation.

"However, with the previous Government kicking a decision on financial redress into the long grass, there were high hopes for change as Labour took the reins of power.

"Ministers do have to take tough decisions with limited public money, but they also have to hold their hands up when an independent watchdog says the system got things wrong. Would they plead poverty to the postmasters or those affected by the infected blood scandal? We think not.

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"The Pensions Minister recently said she needs 'time to review' the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report, which was published more than four months ago. We urge her to do this without any further delay as a WASPI woman is dying every 13 minutes waiting for compensation. Time is not on our side."

Pensions minister Liz Kendall MP told the BBC last month that Labour plans to address the concerns of Waspi women and accused the Tories of failing to do so.

She said: "The Conservatives shamefully ran away from the problem. This is a problem that has been going on for years. A serious report has been produced by the Ombudsman, it requires serious consideration and we are going through all of the details of that.

"We will continue to engage with the WASPI women and the campaigners, and that’s something that the Minister for Pensions will be working on. We are determined to deal with these problems and not run away from them.”