Oxfordshire MP urges Government to consider compensation for WASPI women
Around 35,000 people in Oxfordshire are estimated to be affected by the change in the 1990’s
Last updated 27th Feb 2025
An Oxfordshire MP says he's continuing to put pressure on Government and "campaign for justice" for Waspi women to receive compensation, which was set out by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Waspi campaigners have threatened the Government this week with legal action unless it reconsiders the decision to reject compensation for millions of women affected by changes to the state pension age.
"We will continue to campaign as the third party to get justice”
Campaigners claim women have suffered financial hardship and had to rethink retirement plans due to changes in the state pension age.
Around 35,000 people in Oxfordshire are estimated to be affected by the change, first announced in the 1990s, to bring their retirement age in line with men.
Olly Glover, Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage, says “we will continue to campaign as the third party to get justice.”
He said: “For a lot of people, they've had to work far longer than they previously assumed or planned for. That has all sorts of implications for quality of life, potentially for caring responsibilities, either for people their own age, children or grandchildren. That is why it is so important for government and all of us who are in politics to communicate change effectively.”
He added: “This is something that a number of prominent labour MPs have given public support to in the past, before they went into government, and we think they should follow through on that.”
A watchdog recommended that compensation be paid to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised to be equal with men, but Sir Keir Starmer said taxpayers cannot afford what could be a £10.5 billion package.
Waspi campaigners says the Government's reasons for rejecting the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) report, which found that the women should be paid up to £2,950 each, are "legally wrong".
The group, which has launched a £75,000 Crowdjustice campaign to fund legal action, says the Government has 14 days to respond before the case is filed.
'The government cannot justify the compensation scheme'
A Government spokesperson said: "We accept the Ombudsman's finding of maladministration and have apologised for there being a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women.
"However, evidence showed only one in four people remember reading and receiving letters that they weren't expecting and that by 2006 90% of 1950s-born women knew that the state pension age was changing.
"Earlier letters wouldn't have affected this.
"For these and other reasons the government cannot justify paying for a £10.5 billion compensation scheme at the expense of the taxpayer."