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Labour rules out Waspi payouts after fresh review

ended 30. January 2026

Labour faces a High Court battle after a review ruled out £10bn compensation for millions of Waspi women.

Campaigners, known as Waspis, have spent years arguing that 3.6 million women suffered financial harm because they were not told their state pension age would be equalised with men.

After turning down repeated requests for financial redress, the Government announced in November that it would “retake” the decision after new evidence came to light.

However, Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on Thursday confirmed none of the women will receive a payout.

He said: “The evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women already knew the state pension age was increasing, thanks to a wide range of public information, including through leaflets, education campaigns, information in GP surgeries, on TV and radio, in cinemas, and online.

“To specifically compensate only those women who suffered injustice would require a scheme that could reliably verify the individual circumstances of millions of women.

“As for a flat rate scheme that would cost up to £10.3bn and would simply not be right or fair given it would be paid to the vast majority who were aware of the changes.”

  • What's your reaction to the news?
  • Should they have received compensation?
  • Was the cost of over £10billion just too much for the government to consider?

Responses this afternoon.



 

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Changing the goalposts on future financial retirement planning is dangerous. People are encouraged to make plans yet governments fiddle with it to suit their agendas. The UK state retirement age has changed multiple times over the years, and this is only usually to the advantage of the government and not the individual, yet it is the individual and their future financial plans and outcomes at stake. The government can find the money for anything that suits their agenda, but not to help compensate these women.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
It is funny how the "magic money tree" is always barren when it comes to British pensioners, yet it miraculously blooms whenever the public sector unions demand a pay rise or a foreign aid project needs funding. To claim that a ten billion pound pay out is "not right or fair" is rich coming from a Chancellor who has no problem splashing cash on her own pet projects. These women aren’t asking for a handout. They are asking for the money they were owed after paying into the system their entire lives. Labour has proven once again that they are the party of the public sector elite, not the working class.
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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
I have planned my retirement finances expecting to get nothing from the goverment whatsoever, because if they are happy to pull the rug from under the WASPIs then anyone is fair game when the cupboard looks bare.