WASPI women compensation bid rejected again after government review

The government has restated its rejection of the campaign from women who claimed they were owed billions after their state pensions age was changed.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality - WASPI - campaign has lobbied extensively after claiming they were not given sufficient warning of the state pension age for women being lifted to be in line with men.

Having rejected this claim in December 2024, the government announced a review in November last year when it would consider new evidence.

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Campaigners' argument centres on the claim the change of pension age was done too quickly, leaving some women financially unprepared to cope with the number of years when they were no longer able to claim their state pension.

The government said in 2024 that they would not be compensated because most women knew the changes were coming, before announcing the review in late 2025.

This review was into a specific claim around how the decision was communicated.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said in the House of Commons on Thursday that after the review "the government has come to the same conclusion on compensation as... announced in December 2024".

He added: "There are legitimate and sincerely held views about whether it was wise to increase the state pension age, in particular, whether the decision taken in 2011 by the coalition government to accelerate equalisation and the rise to the age of 66 was the right thing to do or not."

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Mr McFadden said the review was about "how changes to the state pension age were communicated", not the way the policy was decided.

The minister told MPs: "We accept that individual letters about changes to the state pension age could have been sent earlier.

"For this, I want to repeat the apology [from former work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall] on behalf of the government.

"And I am sorry that those letters were not sent sooner.

"We also agree with the [Parliamentary and Health Service] ombudsman that women did not suffer any direct financial loss from the delay."

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Angela Madden, the chair of WASPI, said: "This is a disgraceful political choice by a small group of very powerful people who have decided the harm and injustice suffered by millions of ordinary women simply does not matter.

"The parliamentary ombudsman says economic circumstances should not be used as an excuse to deny compensation.

The government has magically found billions to fund policies not made in their election manifesto, proving money can quickly become available when ministers consider something a priority.

"WASPI is taking legal advice, and all options remain on the table. We stand ready to pursue every avenue in Parliament and in the courts to secure the justice that has been so shamefully denied."

Around 3.6 million women were affected by the change to the state pension age.

The government has previously said compensating them could cost £10.5bn.

Women born between April 1951 and 1960 were affected.

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The changes were first announced in the 1995 Pensions Act, with a target to equalise male and female pensions by 2020.

(c) Sky News 2026: WASPI women compensation bid rejected again after government review