The SNP has repeated its demand that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money are spent on compensating women impacted by a long-planned change to the state pension system.
The Nationalists reacted with fury earlier this month after the UK Government announced it would not follow the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman on the issue.
It was first announced in 1995 by John Major’s Tory government the state pension age for women would gradually rise to 65, in line with men, from the previous age of 60.
In 2010, the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government decided to speed up the changes to reduce the overall cost of the state pension.
The SNP has insisted the women impacted by the change should be compensated.
About 3.6 million women were affected by the 1995 decision to increase the pension age to 65. Of those, 2.6 million were affected by the decision to bring the date forward to 2018.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group has held protests about the issue and lobbied successive governments.
The group wants lump sum payments for those who have already reached state pension age, plus extra income for those who have not yet been able to claim their state pension.
In March 2024, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said the government had failed to adequately inform thousands of women that the state pension age had changed.
But Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall this month confirmed Waspi women would not receive compensation.
Both Kendall and Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously supported the Waspi campaign, but the party didn’t commit to paying compensation in its manifesto ahead of the 2024 general election.
Starmer later said: “90 per cent of those impacted did know about the change – and in those circumstances, the taxpayer simply can’t afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation”.
But SNP MSP Clare Haughey accused the UK Labour Government of “the same old Westminster betrayal”.
She said: “In 2024, older people in Scotland have been let down time and time again by this UK Government and now the millions of Waspi women who have spent so many years campaigning for what they are due will rightly feel betrayed.
“In Scotland, the SNP government is cleaning up the UK Government’s mess on the winter fuel payment by bringing forward universal winter heating support in the Scottish Budget.
“Delivering support for those who need it most – that is what you can expect from a Swinney government.
“In contrast, Sir Keir Starmer has strung pensioners along only to betray them. Once again the ‘change’ that was promised looks an awful lot like the same old Westminster betrayal and is yet another serious embarrassment for the Labour leadership in Scotland.
“As we go into 2025, the choice for Anas Sarwar is will he spend the next year standing up for older people in Scotland or will he continue to stand up for the Prime Minister?
“2025 must be the year that Waspi women finally receive justice, anything less would be completely unacceptable.”
Scottish Labour’s social security spokesperson Paul O’Kane said: “I welcome that a UK Labour government has guaranteed the triple lock that will see the new state pension increase for millions of pensioners by £470 next year and around £1,900 over the course of this parliament despite the economic mess they inherited from the Tories.
“It is right that the UK Government has recognised the injustice suffered by the Waspi women.
“However, many will be disappointed that no compensation is being offered to the thousands of women impacted by the Tory decision to raise their pension age without proper notice.”
“Of course the UK Government should be focused on fixing the economic mess it inherited but in recognising this injustice we would hope to have seen a compromise position that would have allowed for some form of compensation for the Waspi women most in need from this long-running failure.
“Scottish Labour has committed to reinstating winter fuel payments for thousands of pensioners – something the SNP claims to support but has so far failed to do.”
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