Lib Dems demand new pensions minister compensate Waspi women with £15,000 each

The Liberal Democrats have today called on the UK Government and new Pensions Secretary Esther McVey to correct the “injustice” faced by the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) by giving them £15,000 each.

Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for work and pensions said successive administrations have failed to help women who are set to miss out on years of pension entitlements because of a change in the rules introduced more than two decades ago.

The Waspi campaign group was founded in 2015 to fight for women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the State Pension Law (1995/2011 Acts).

The 1995 Pensions Act increased the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 in order to equalise the age with men, with the change to be phased in over ten years from 2010 for women born between 1950 and 1955.

This transition was later sped up by the 2011 Pensions Act. The changes came as a shock to many women who hadn’t been made aware of them.

Some women discovered they would have to wait up to six years longer for their state pension which often affected their retirement plans.

In 2015, WASPI was formed by five women to argue for the government to provide transitional payments to women born in the 1950s receiving their pension after the age of 60.

They also call for compensation to women who now receive a state pension but had to wait longer.

Speaking today, Mr Lloyd asserted that it was time that the Government accede to the group’s demands.

Mr Lloyd said successive administrations have failed to help women who are set to miss out on years of pension entitlements because of a change in the rules introduced more than two decades ago.

Mr Lloyd’s appeal will be directed towards MP Esther McVey, who replaced David Gauke in yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle.

He said it was her responsibility to take up the cause of Waspi women in her new role as secretary of state for work and pensions.

He said: “This injustice must be urgently addressed. The most practical way of doing so would be for the Department for Work and Pensions to make a sizeable transition payment to each of the affected women to the tune of £15,000 payable immediately, tax free.

“It won’t make up for all the loss but I believe it will be seen as a genuine attempt by the Government to make amends for the shambolic roll-out of the increase in women’s pension age way back from the very beginning, in the mid 1990s.”

Labour supported Waspi women in its manifesto during the June 2017 election.