'Army of grandparents' let down by Waspi decision

The government's decision not to compensate women in the "Waspi" women pension case will leave many "desperately" struggling, a Merseyside campaigner has said.

Nine months ago, a parliamentary ombudsman agreed pay-outs of up to £3,000 to more than three million women born in the 1950s who did not get adequate notice of changes to rises in the state pension age.

But Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the Commons on Tuesday it would not happen, with ministers saying it would cost billions of pounds the country cannot afford.

Theresa Stoddart from Roby in Knowsley, said finding out in 2012 she would have to wait until 2020 to receive her state pension instead of 2014 was "a significant blow".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended the government's decision, saying "given the vast majority of people did know about these changes, I didn't judge it would be the best use of taxpayers' money to pay an expensive compensation bill".

Ms Stoddart became part of the WASPI (Women against state pension inequality) campaign in 2015.

Mrs Stoddart said: "I'd already planned for my retirement and I had promised my children that I would look after my grandchildren and save them some money on childcare fees."

She said she was not given adequate notice of the changes to the state pension age and had not been able to plan accordingly.

"I was also looking after elderly relatives, and that had a detrimental effect on me," she added.

She said she left work early to seek out the small civil service pension she received from her job to make it last until she got her state pension.

"I am feeling frustrated, sad, annoyed and very let down by what has happened and by the Labour Party," continued.

She said in 2019 Labour were vociferous in their support of WASPI women but now felt forgotten.

"In 2019 I stood side by side with Angela Raynor who said she would stand side by side with us. We feel extremely let down," she said.

In a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in in 2022, Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer who was then leader of the opposition, described the situation as "a real injustice".

• What are Waspi women, and what is the row about their state pension?
• 'I want the £45,000 state pension that was stolen from me'

Speaking to a woman from from Warrington who had called in, Sir Keir said that the Conservative government had "sat on its hands" over the issue.

Responding to the Labour government's current position Carol said she was "furious".

She said that while she herself fell just outside the definition of a WASPI woman, it was a "generational injustice".

"Us in or 60s now, we are the army of grandparents picking up the mantle of child care for our grown up children," she added.

"We are a generation that have been side lined as being irrelevant, invisible and the government really don't care about people our age."

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