Northumberland WASPI group "very pleased" with support at the Westminster Hall debate

A debate took place at Westminster Hall on March 12 to discuss the changes made to the 1950s women state pension age and received strong cross-party support for an early resolution to the issue.

Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) was founded in 2015 by women who campaigned against the way the state pension age for men and women was equalised.

WASPI Northumberland co-ordinator, Jane Cowley, said: “The debate was incredibly well attended with MPs from all the different parties there and speaking out very strongly.

"This has been going on now since 2016 so it’s just a long-running fight, similar in many ways to some of the other scandals facing the government.”

The debate saw many MPs urging the government to act much quicker to face the issue head-on and to come up with a scheme to compensate women as soon as they can.

Jane has worked with others across the Berwick-upon-Tweed parliamentary area to raise awareness of the issue and she said there are 6,620 women affected in this constituency.

In 2021 the Ombudsman found in an investigation that there had been maladministration from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who failed to communicate changes to the State Pension age. This saw millions of 1950s-born women affected by a lack of notice in the rise from 60 to 65 (and later 66), plunging tens of thousands into poverty.

However, after WASPI claimed the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ‘failed to follow due process’ in regard to its investigation in 2023, a new report is being drafted and is awaited by WASPI groups.

Jane continued: “The issue for us is that one Waspi woman dies every 13 minutes while we wait for the report to come out. So it is really a matter that needs to be settled with some urgency.”

The State Pension Inequality for Women All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has said that the compensation should be paid at the highest level that ombudsman can recommend, which is £10,000 per person.

On this point, Jane added: “Beyond that, there is an issue of material loss in which some women have no salaries, homes, divorce settlements on top of the emotional distress and the other injustices caused. We would be looking at a minimum settlement of £10,000 to begin to put things right.”