“The advice to Government was clear and blatantly ignoring it not only undermines the authority of the Ombudsman, it sends a damaging message to the public about how the state responds when it gets things wrong.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour MP for Salford and Co-Chair of the APPG on State Pension Inequality for Women, has released a statement challenging the Government’s decision to deny fair compensation to 1950’s WASPI women.
It is frankly wrong that the Government has once again chosen to reject compensation for the 1950’S women affected by state pension age changes.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that maladministration and injustice had occurred and they recommended compensation. The advice to Government was clear and blatantly ignoring it not only undermines the authority of the Ombudsman, it sends a damaging message to the public about how the state responds when it gets things wrong.
I have heard directly from women who lost their homes, were forced to continue working while seriously unwell, or experienced profound anxiety and distress because they were denied the chance to plan properly for retirement. Their lives were destroyed and today they are not just devastated, they feel gaslit.
So if the Government is serious about justice, it must engage directly with the women affected. I am calling for meaningful consultation or mediation with 1950s-born women and their representatives to shape what fair and proportionate compensation should look like in practice.
This is not about reopening past policy decisions. It is about whether, when the state is found to have failed its citizens, it has the courage to put that right. On this issue, the state failed and Government is still falling short.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey is the MP for Salford and a regular contributor for Labour Outlook. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X and Bluesky.
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