The new Labour government took until nearly Christmas to announce that it was not going to give the 3.5 million remaining 50s women a penny in compensation for their six year wait for a pension.
The result I am sad to say could have been predicted as both Labour and the Conservatives were determined from the start to avoid a pay out by delaying tactics and a refusal to discuss mediation.
It was left to MPs to continue the fight whose parties were either not in a position to pay out the money because they were not in government or didn’t have the power to pay out state pensions in the first place.
This is both a scandal and a tragedy for the women. They have been let down by ministers, the judiciary, civil servants,the Parliamentary Ombudsman, MPs, and even some of their own advocates, especially by bad decision making by WASPI, who took a route to secure compensation that was bound to fail.
Ministers have continually procrastinated over the pay out- either by claiming the Ombudsman’s report was so complex they had to study it in detail – the Tories under Mel Stride, then works and pensions secretary or Labour – under Liz Kendall, his Labour successor, that she needed more time..
The judiciary also played their part in delaying any decision and ignoring whether there had been discrimination against the women despite Margaret Thatcher signing up to the UN convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1986. Only one judge, the Hon Justice Lang, a woman judge born in the 1950s, got the significance of the challenge facing this group of women by accepting all the issues raised by barristers Michael Mansfield and Catherine Rayner that it was age and sexual discrimination as well as maladministration. She understood the simple fact that although the decision was taken in 1995 to raise the women’s pension age to be equal with men, it was only now that the effects were being discovered.
The rest of the judiciary in the High Court and the Court of Appeal rejected this and the Supreme Court took the insulting decision that the case was out of time – having spent years already going through the court system.
Civil Servants in the Department for Work and Pensions were equally hostile – they didn’t believe in the women’s case, didn’t want to pay them and one senior civil servant went as far to accuse the women of committing fraud by wanting to claim.
The then Parliamentary Ombudsman.Sir Robert Behrens, produced a mouse of a report, reneged on his duty to make recommendations on the maladministration issue, leaving it to MPs knowing that ministers and civil servants were hostile to any payment.
Most MPs facing a prolonged lobbying campaign from WASPI, organised by Higginson Strategy, came behind the Ombudsman’s weak report and ignored the discrimination issue and later a proposal for mediation.
Making matters worse
To make matters worse the campaign for restitution was divided and split into various groups wanting different things and disagreeing over personalities. There was no united front. WASPI tried to control the agenda by focusing on maladministration. This was a false move as anybody would have known that the Parliamentary Ombudsman in the UK, unlike other countries, can be ignored by government and it cannot enforce its recommendations. So when the weakened report for partial maladministration came out, ministers knew they need not abide by it.
Why I supported Backto60 and CEDAWinLaw, is because they were prepared to put their money where their mouth was, did go to court and employed international experts to make their case, like Dr Jocelynne Scutt, a former Australian judge, to produce a well argued report showing that the case involved discrimination. What is appalling is that issue has been ignored by the national media who have airbrushed any mention of such a solution.
Later CEDAWinLAW moved to get mediation between the groups and the government – and invited everyone to joint them. WASPI looked at it and refused – I can only assume they don’t want any mediation to solve the issue.
Instead they are still flogging the dead horse of the Ombudsman’s Report – which the Government has already rejected- to MPs on the All Party group examining the issue and to the Commons works and pensions committee which is investigating the issue.
The result is I am afraid the women will still get nothing. Only by making a move for mediation will they get anywhere. And they will have to raise the money to force it through the courts as ministers don’t want to know. I know there is already an organisation prepared to act as mediators. What we need is the resolution of people to act or live forever without getting one penny out of the DWP.
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Dear David,Thank you so much for covering this from the start. I have said to many people, especially WASPI women, that WASPI was set up and controlled by Tory MPs. They always intended WASPI to fail. What interests me the most in the whole catastrophy is that nobody has challenged what happened a few days into the BackT060 initiated Supreme Court case was suddenly closed down by the Government. The grounds for this being that BackTo60 had failed to bring the case to court in time i.e. they said it should have been brought to court in the time limit FROM when “we” first knew about it in the early 1990s. As WE, 50sWomen, were not told at all, ever, that was actually the basis of our complaint. So not having ever been told of our new retirement date, how on Earth could we have brought the case before we di? The “we” the Government referred to to justify shutting the case down, was THEM! THEY knew all along, but did not tell US. So we are not part of that “we” whom they referred to. That was so horrifying to me. It was undemocratic and surely illegal for the Government to behave in such a way, and yet, not a soul has EVER done anything about that. Michael Mansfield did not challenge it. Why? I just do not understand it. It proves not a soul in our country has ANY recourse to justice. There is no justice if the Government can just shut down a case with no valid reason given. I am most grateful for the work you do. Thank you. Kind regards,Helen Cron
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backto60 evolved into CEDAWinLAW and presented to People’s Tribunals amid the Pandemic and out of which two lauded reports formed the basis of a second jr currently postponed awaiting developments.
Mediation is the next step with or without the collaboration of the APPG and other groups.
A top team of mediators is on standby to be considered for the neutral role.
Our mission is the best outcome for all entitled #50sWomen.
Now that you’re up to date, please write to your MP with an invitation to support Mediation via CEDAWinLAW.
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This is disgusting 🫣 They could do it just add it to the national debt as our pension was use to pay some of it off. Labour have increased the national debt and given they money away as aid and goodness knows what? My lost pension Is £55,991. I think they could pay a non taxable uplift to all 50s women. Say £100 per week. Although it’s not a lump sum it would help £5,200 per year.
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This is the outcome I fully expected.Didnt Starmer Raynor and Reeves have lots of pics taken and expressed their support whilst in opposition?.Wasnt it in previous manifestos but now in Gov yet again they change their views. As the Country can’t afford it! But we certainly have loads of money to give to other Countries and the so called black hole has become a chasm now.
I wrote to my Labour MP and got the standard reply that probably any other woman received basically a load of rubbish you’ve had an apology and we will learn from it for the future.
I didn’t receive any letters but did pay a married woman’s stamp but as I was a widow expected to inherit my husbands pension and serps but during the extra 6+ years I had to work the Conservatives changed the rules on that without any notification so only got a lower rate based on my contributions and half his serps.Therefore they shafted me twice and I worked 51 years for that!
A total farce!
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An excellent synopsis of the situation David. However, you have omitted to mention that Stephen Flynn, SNP leader in the House of Commons, introduced the Women’s State pension Age (Ombudsman Report and Compensation Scheme) Bill in the House on 28th January. It passed first reading by 103 votes to 0. Second reading is due on 7th March.
Private Members Bills are notoriously difficult to get through without government giving it parliamentary time but this one was backed by 10 Labour MP’s on first reading.
The Prime Minister stood at the despatch box at PMQ’s on 18th December to say the Government could not afford to pay what the Ombudsman recommended. He has, unwittingly, opened the can of worms that is the Ombudsman and given every CEO of every NHS organisation the authority to refuse to honour compensation recommendations made by NHS complainants.
That is the wider issue. The Ombudsman was set up in 1967 and had NHS complaints bolted onto the remit in 1993. It is not fit for purpose but the Government was told that as long ago as 2015 by the Patients Association
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Absolutely agree with you that the ruling could lead to health trusts refusing to pay compensation to patients. I was aware of Stephen Flynn’s bill but the problem with this is if the bill is defeated in the Commons the government could say Parliament has spoken and they will get nothing. Yes he has 10 Labour MPs but there are 410 of them and they are likely to follow the whip if the government lays down one to defeat it.
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Quite right David. The House of Cards always finds a way to display ‘sleight of hand’
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Thanks for the update and overview of this. David Re situation north of border if anyone interested, here is a recent link https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/new-update-state-pension-compensation-34601874
It includes :-
‘New update on State Pension age compensation for millions of WASPI women. Political support in Scotland is growing for the UK Government to compensate 1950s-born women.’ (By Linda Howard Money and Consumer Writer &Craig Paton, PA Scotland Deputy Political Editor 09:22, 3 FEB 2025)
‘The Liberal Democrats and Greens north of the border have joined with the Scottish Government to call for compensation for 1950-born women affected by changes to their State Pension age. The parties co-signed a letter at the end of last week alongside Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville addressed to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.’
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