Labour will reconsider its decision not to award compensation to so-called Waspi women, it was announced today.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told the House of Commons that the Government will re-evaluate because further evidence had come to light.
But he warned this would not necessarily result in those women affected by state pension changes being granted thousands of pounds each.
‘Retaking this decision should not be taken as an indication that Government will necessarily decide that it should award financial redress,’ Mr McFadden told MPs.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group have long been pushing for compensation.
They have argued that women affected by state pension age reforms were required to rethink retirement plans at relatively short notice and suffered financial hardship.
Around 3.6 million women born in the 1950s are claimed to have not been properly informed of the rise in the state pension age to bring them into line with men.
In December last year, the Government said they would not be granting compensation to Waspi women despite a recommendation for them to do so.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group have long been pushing for compensation
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told the House of Commons that the Government will re-evaluate because further evidence had come to light
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said affected women should be paid up to £2,950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5billion.
But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer argued the taxpayer ‘simply can’t afford the tens of billions of pounds’ in payments.
This was despite him having signed a pledge for ‘fair and fast compensation’ in 2022 while opposition leader.
In a statement to the Commons on Tuesday, Mr McFadden said the Government would now reconsider their decision to not award compensation.
He said ‘evidence’, which was not shown to his predecessor Liz Kendall when she made the decision last year, had since come to light and needed to be considered.
He told MPs the decision to re-evaluate was taken after Department for Work and Pensions documents were revealed during legal proceedings challenging the Government’s decision.
‘In light of this and in the interests of fairness and transparency, I have concluded that the Government should now consider this evidence,’ he said.
‘This means we will retake the decision made last December, as it relates to the communications on state pension age.’
But the Work and Pensions Secretary suggested that reconsidering the decision did not mean the Government would end up awarding the women compensation.
He told the Commons: ‘Retaking this decision should not be taken as an indication that Government will necessarily decide that it should award financial redress.
‘The work will begin immediately and I will update the House on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.’
