Fylde coast WASPI campaigners’ cautious welcome for new development
Norma Elkington spent 11 years in the fight for justice for for the 3.5 million women affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ failures
Campaigners on the Fylde coast have given a cautious welcome to a new letter being sent to Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for talks on compensating millions of WASPI women.
Norma Elkington, 68, has spent 11 years in the fight for justice for for the 3.5 million women affected by the Department for Work and Pensions’ historic failures to properly communicate increases to their State Pension age.
Retired nurse Norma says she personally lost around £50,000 in pension payments after her imminent retirement at 60 was pushed back, without enough notice, for another six years when the women’s pension age rose to 65 and then 66.
Now the chief WASPI Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigner Angela Madden has written to the new Labour leadership to urgently meet with campaigners to ensure 1950s-born women receive “fair redress”.
Mrs Madden has highlighted the personal assurances received from Mr Burnham during the Makerfield by-election campaign, where he committed to solving the injustices faced by WASPI women.
The letter says campaigners remain “absolutely determined” to win justice and are seeking to work collaboratively with ministers to develop a fair solution for both WASPI women and the public purse.
Norma, who lives in the Rossall area of Fleetwood, said she and her two fellow campaigning sisters, Susan Dutton and Mary Waterhouse, faced disappointment during their many years of campaigning and saw promises of help from ministers broken.
LOCAL CAMPAIGNER’S VIEW
She said: “We are wary because when it was in opposition, the Labour party was right behind us. But things changed when they got in, under Keir Starmer.
“The Labour government let us down and as a life supporter of the party I vowed never to vote for it again.
“There are some women who have really struggled. They had to keep working after planning their retirement and they really faced hardship.
“If Andy Burnham does help it would be great, not just to get compensation but to get recognition that we were treated badly. Would they have done that to the men?”
Mr Burnham met directly with WASPI campaigners during his by-election campaign and agreed to meet to discuss their fight for justice.
The Labour leader also told a Manchester Evening News hustings he was uncomfortable with politicians who backed the campaign in opposition, only to abandon them once in Government.
Despite aides later playing down the prospect of compensation costing up to £10bn, Burnham’s offer to meet with campaigners to discuss “redress” still stands.
WASPI campaigners say the lack of adequate notice about the increases to their State Pension age left many women without sufficient time to make alternative arrangements for their retirement.
Sir Keir Starmer received widespread criticism after refusing to implement the compensation recommendations made by the Parliamentary Ombudsman in 2024.
WASPI also say early input from the Chancellor into shaping options that are viable within the constraints of the public purse is vital to ensuring affected women receive fair redress.
Angela Madden, Chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said: “We were grateful to receive personal assurances from Andy during the Makerfield by-election that addressing this injustice was something he was committed to carrying out.
“While recognising the new Prime Minister has a long list of things to fix, we are now asking him, alongside the Chancellor, to make good on that promise, and to sit down with WASPI to determine what redress for 1950s-born women looks like.
“For far too long, WASPI women have been let down by governments of all colours and are understandably desperate to see this long-running injustice put right.”