Posted by 
Preston city councillors have called on the government to think again over its decision to deny compensation to women whose retirement plans were upended by changes to the state pension age.
Ministers last week announced they would not be making payouts to the so-called WASPI group – Women Against State Pension Inequality – in spite of an official recommendation to do so.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman had suggested compensation payments of between £1,000 and almost £3,000 for the more than three million women affected by delays in how increases in the age at which they were able to claim their pension were communicated to them.
Read more: Preston city centre bedsits near police station apartments overhaul plan
However, the government said it could not justify the £10.5bn cost of such a scheme when, it claimed, 90 percent of those in the relevant age groups were aware of the changes coming down the track after shifts in policy in 1995 and 2011, which saw the state pension age steadily rise from 60 to 66 over the decade to 2020. But the ministerial stance on compensation came in for cross-party condemnation at a meeting of Preston City Council.
Bringing a notice of motion on the issue, Liberal Democrat member Julie Van Mierlo said the system had forced some women into “poverty, poor health and early death”. She added that the way they had been treated was “a disgrace” and that they “deserved” compensation.
“Women outperform men educationally at every single level – from high school to PHD – but still get paid less. 1950s women have faced many challenges and many have had fewer opportunities to secure their financial stability through retirement.
“Now add in another six years before they’re eligible for their state pension [with], for some, 18 months’ notice. Is that fair?” Cllr Van Mierlo asked.
She accepted an amendment to her motion from Labour cabinet member Valerie Wise, who laid out a litany of ways in which the poorly-communicated change – which the Ombudsman found amounted to “maladministration” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – had disadvantaged not just the women themselves, but wider society in places like Preston.
These, she said, included increased pressures on social care, childcare and voluntary services by virtue of the fact that women had been more restricted in choosing to make contributions in those domains – both within their families and the community – because of working full-time for longer than they had expected.
Cllr Wise – herself a WASPI woman – said she was “disappointed” with a statement from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall explaining the decision not to grant compensation. She also said it was “incorrect” to suggest women knew of the changes.
“When the [Pensions] Act was introduced in 1995 by the then Conservative government, I probably wasn’t aware of the implications, like so many other women. I was 40 at the time – I wasn’t thinking about my retirement,” Cllr Wise explained.
The portfolio holder for community wealth building added that the DWP’s own research in 2003/4 found that only 43 percent of all women affected were aware that their state pension age had risen to between 60 and 65 years.
Backing the motion – which also called for MPs to be given a debate and vote on the matter – Conservative group leader Stephen Thompson said he could not understand why the Labour government had set its face against the compensation recommendation.
Liberal Democrat opposition leader John Potter welcomed his Tory counterpart’s position in view of the fact the Conservatives at a national level have not committed to making the payout either.
Speaking in the Commons last week, Liz Kendall said: “Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5bn would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers.”
Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.
Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines
