Official Report 1081KB pdf
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-15947, in the name of Kenneth Gibson, on compensation for the WASPI women. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the belief that women born in the 1950s, also known as the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), who were not properly informed of the rise in their state pension age, thousands of whom are in the Cunninghame North constituency, should be compensated by the UK Government.
17:55
I thank the Scottish National Party and Green MSPs who signed my motion to enable the debate to happen, and I thank Age Scotland and Close the Gap for their briefings.
Deputy Presiding Officer,
“Members are shocked and disgusted by what can only be seen as a betrayal of everything the Labour Party MPs & MSPs have told us while they were in opposition.
Instead of going after all those who fraudulently claimed money for inadequate PPE for example, they decide to target the vulnerable and already penalised WASPI women.
Lying, untrustworthy hypocrites is the best description of how we feel about the Labour Party now!”
Those are not my words but the words of the Ayrshire WASPI group, as reported last month in the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald. Women were understandably angry and frustrated at the decision by Liz Kendall MP, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, not to compensate them.
For a decade, women against state pension inequality campaigners and their supporters have demanded justice. This is the fifth WASPI debate that we have had at Holyrood. At Westminster, it was the last issue that was debated before the United Kingdom general election, on a motion that was tabled by the former SNP member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran, Patricia Gibson, who spoke about WASPI in the House of Commons 46 times.
For those who are unaware, I note that the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 resulted in the state pension age for women who were born in the 1950s changing from 60 to 65 and then to 66, but 3.8 million women across the UK—including 336,000 in Scotland and 26,430 in Ayrshire—who were impacted by the changes were not given proper notice. Many women received a letter advising them of the changes only within one year or less of their expected state pension age of 60. Some found themselves retiring from employment on a Friday, only to find that they could not claim their pension the following Monday and would have to wait up to six more years.
Most older women were already at greater risk of poverty as a result of earning lower pay during their working lives, having interrupted their careers to raise families. Many also had caring responsibilities. Last year, the Pensions Policy Institute found that women’s pension wealth, by their late 50s, is less than two thirds that of men as a result of their being paid less than the national insurance lower earnings limit.
All MSPs will have heard from constituents about the devastating impact that raising women’s pension age without due notice has had on their lives. That impact has led to women abandoning plans to care for elderly or infirm relatives, being forced into low-paid and insecure work, and being pushed into poverty as what savings they had have dwindled away.
I highlight a case that was previously raised in the chamber by Neil Bibby. In 2012, his constituent was told by the Department for Work and Pensions that her state pension age had not changed. It subsequently did change, to 63 and a half and then to 65 and three months. She was given no notice to prepare.
Another woman, who contacted Pauline McNeill, became unwell at 58, after working all her life, and discovered by accident that the age at which she had expected to receive her pension—60—had increased to 66.
It is undeniable that successive UK Governments failed to grasp the detrimental impact on millions of women. The former Minister of State for Pensions, Baroness Ros Altmann, said that the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP, had allegedly refused to engage with affected women, saying that they
“would go away sooner or later.”
Well, those women are still here—in our public gallery, in fact—and their voices are still being heard. [Applause.]
After one of the most tenacious and determined grass-roots campaigns in recent memory, WASPI women believed that they were slowly winning against Whitehall intransigence. In March 2024, a comprehensive investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman damned the DWP and vindicated WASPI campaigners. The DWP was found guilty of “maladministration” and the ombudsman made clear that affected women “should be compensated”. A major factor in the ombudsman’s conclusions came from the DWP’s failure to react appropriately to research findings and recommendations.
An internal DWP memorandum references a survey that found that half of women whose state pension age had risen thought that it was still 60. The memo proposed
“A direct mail to this group … as the most appropriate way of minimising the risk of future criticism that the Department has not been sufficiently proactive in communicating to those women affected by the change in State Pension age.”
Research showed the target audience
“Has a strong preference for printed material, being generally positive towards direct mail and particularly its presentation.”
Therefore, in December, when Ms Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said that 90 per cent of WASPI women knew about the change to their pension age and then flatly rejected compensation, the shock, anger and sense of duplicity that WASPI women felt were all too real. However, even if Ms Kendall was right—she is not—that 90 per cent of women did know, that would still leave 380,000 women in the UK, 33,000 in Scotland and hundreds in my constituency to be compensated.
The UK Labour Government is offering nothing—it is no wonder that emotions are so raw. For years, Labour politicians, including Sir Keir Starmer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, happily stood alongside WASPI women and their campaign placards demanding fair and fast compensation. To add insult to injury, Ms Kendall openly campaigned for WASPI and was photographed signing WASPI pledges and affirming her support. To go from that to her statement on 17 December shows an astonishing political metamorphosis.
However, the Labour Government is not just ruling out compensation in any form, as awful as that is. Ms Kendall argued that giving women proper notice of the changes would not have made a difference, thereby shamefully seeking to repudiate the entire premise of the WASPI campaign. In shrugging off an SNP MP’s question, the secretary of state echoed a suggestion that was previously made by Jackie Baillie, Labour’s deputy leader in this Parliament: if you do not like it, mitigate it yourselves. Such comments show wilful ignorance of section 28 of the Scotland Act 2016, which prohibits the Scottish Parliament from such action, as the “Report of the Smith Commission for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament” stated specifically that
“All aspects of ... pension”
provision should
“remain ... reserved”.
The DWP knew that a massive cohort of women were unaware of changes to their pensions, knew that it should write to them and knew that that would make a difference. Ms Kendall’s attempt to rewrite history and blame the WASPI women for being unaware of the changes deserves only our contempt.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s conclusions resulted from a rigorous and impartial investigation that unequivocally confirmed DWP failings—they are not advisory suggestions to be conveniently ignored. Governments have a duty to act with fairness and integrity, to acknowledge mistakes and to rectify them once they are discovered. When that duty is abdicated, as we see in this case, it erodes trust not just in the political party involved but in Government institutions more widely. Failure to uphold ombudsman recommendations sets a terrible precedent that the UK Government can disregard its own failings and that those who have been wronged can be dismissed and ignored.
WASPI women deserve better. It is estimated that more than 300,000 have died since the campaign began, and another dies every 13 minutes. I urge members on all sides of the chamber to unite in demanding justice—which means compensation, without delay.
To WASPI women who are listening to this debate, I say: the SNP stands with you, and we will ensure that your voices are heard until you receive the justice and compensation that you deserve.
At this point, I should mention a few housekeeping issues. First, I say to those in the public gallery that they are very welcome to be here this evening in what is their Parliament, but, under our rules of procedure, we do not have members of the public in the gallery clapping. I hope that they will appreciate that I am required to point that out.
Secondly, there is a lot of interest in the debate, and I remind back-bench members who have pressed their request-to-speak button that I ask for speeches of up to four minutes.
Thirdly, given the number of members who wish to speak in the debate, I am minded to accept a motion without notice, under rule 8.14.3 of standing orders, to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. I invite Kenneth Gibson to move the motion.
Motion moved,
That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes.—[Kenneth Gibson]
Motion agreed to.
18:04
I congratulate Mr Gibson on securing the debate, and I declare an interest as a pensioner who—thankfully—just missed out on the changes, although my sister siblings did not. In my constituency, as many as 5,630 WASPI women in Midlothian and 8,740 across the Borders have lost out, and many of them have campaigned tirelessly for decades to right this wrong.
Women of our generations were especially vulnerable to changes in the state pension. Many left work to raise a family, as I did, and did not have a work pension or did not pay what was known as the big stamp. It was only as retirement loomed that we found out how small that pension would be and that we would perhaps have to rely on our husband’s or partner’s pension. We can also factor in the single, divorced or widowed women, whose future financial security was based on—crucially—retiring at 60.
Now, with the changes to pension rights, too many are in poverty. For example, 23 per cent of single female Scottish pensioners live in relative poverty, and 66 per cent of pension credit claimants are women.
WASPI women have no argument with the equalisation of the pension age—the issue is the way in which it was done, compounded by the failure to publicise and inform women of the changes. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, in its 2023 report, which was confined to the question of maladministration by the DWP in informing the women who were affected, stated:
“Given the scale of the impact of DWP’s maladministration, and the urgent need for a remedy, we are taking the rare but necessary step of asking Parliament to intervene. We are laying our report before Parliament ... and asking”
it
“to identify a mechanism for providing appropriate remedy for those who have suffered injustice.”
In other words, the PHSO is asking for compensation not for lost pension years—the lost pension is another matter, which was not in its remit—but for a failure to inform so that the women who were affected could adequately adjust for their financial future.
That brings me to Labour. Now in government, its MPs have erased their online comments in support of the WASPI women, just as eagerly as they once stood for photo opportunities with the campaigners. I have some questions for them, especially for Kirsty McNeill MP, who was recently elected to represent Midlothian. Do they support the compensation recommendations from the ombudsman? Are they ashamed that, before the election, there was not a peep about abandoning the WASPI women? I also have a question for Labour members who are in the chamber tonight: how will they vote next week when the matter comes up for debate?
I end with the words of Clair Ramage, who, for health reasons, took early retirement at 58 and who established the Borders WASPI group, which currently has 168 members in its Facebook group alone. She says:
“I was told that to get my state pension that I would have to apply for it so at 58 I contacted the DWP to better understand how I go about this. I was then told that I would not get my state pension until I was 66 years old. I was shocked and said but you never told me to which they replied, ‘WE DIDN’T NEED TO’.
I felt powerless for the first time in my life. Who was going to fight for me as there was no union to help? I then discovered WASPI and set up the group across the Borders. Obviously we now have the Ombudsman’s findings that indeed the DWP did not inform these women about the changes to their pension age to give them time to set up alternative pensions.
Finally it angers me to see how we have been used by the Labour Party who fully supported us, signed petitions, got their pictures taken—for what, just votes?”
I could not have said it better myself.
18:08
I congratulate Kenneth Gibson on securing the debate. He opened his remarks by thanking the SNP and Green members who had supported the motion to allow the debate to be brought to the chamber. I, too, would have supported the motion, because there is nothing in it with which I disagree. I think that it is fair to say that, when the motion was lodged, a flurry of motions came in from SNP members. I supported Clare Haughey’s motion on 19 December, which had almost identical wording, because there was nothing in it with which I disagreed. Indeed, I said that in the chamber on 1 May last year, when we had a debate on the issue.
I welcome the WASPI campaigners in the public gallery. I have supported WASPI women in Moray and across the Highlands and Islands since my election. At times, that has put me at odds with my party; I was the first of the 2017 intake of new Conservative MPs in the Westminster Parliament to vote against the party whip on the issue, because I agree that WASPI women have been wronged by successive Governments of different political persuasions.
The fight for justice has taken far too long. Kenny Gibson is right to highlight how many of his constituents, and people across Scotland, are still fighting. Sadly, however, some have lost that fight and did not live to see the day on which the justice that they were looking for would be delivered through the PHSO report.
What I find most difficult about the new UK Government’s position is that it accepts part of the report—it accepts that there has been fault and that women were not given the required notice that they were entitled to and deserved—but it does not accept the compensation bit. I am sorry but, with PHSO reports, we do not get to pick and choose. The ombudsman is an independent judge who is in place to try to take the politics out of the issue, remove the clear injustice and come up with a solution.
I know that there are WASPI women in Moray and across Scotland who do not believe that the PHSO report goes far enough or that the compensation that is recommended in that report is sufficient. However, for Labour to say that they do not deserve any compensation at all is completely wrong. I thought that Christine Grahame gave an excellent speech, and I agree with what she said. How can Scottish Labour and Labour politicians in Holyrood and Westminster reconcile the position that they took before the general election, which was to support WASPI women at every opportunity, with the position that they are now taking, with their party in government and refusing women the right to the compensation that they deserve?
The PHSO did not look at whether it was right or wrong to change the pension age, and the vast majority of WASPI campaigners—if not every one of them I have spoken to—were not against the changing of the pension age. Rather, they were against the way that that was communicated—or, in most cases, not communicated—and the fact that that did not allow them to prepare for retirement while they were in work.
It is incumbent on the UK Government to look at the issue again. I know that some of my Conservative colleagues at Westminster have asked for a vote on the matter. However, at the moment, the Government will not even give MPs the opportunity to have a division in the House of Commons to say whether its position is right or wrong.
This campaign has gone on for far too long. Kenny Gibson was right to highlight Patricia Gibson, and, in our previous debate on the issue, I highlighted Labour’s Carolyn Harris and the Conservatives’ Tim Loughton, who have done a lot of work on it. Surely now, after many years of thorough and significant investigation by the PHSO, we can see that women did not get the required notice and that they deserve compensation.
In my final seconds, I urge the Government to come up with a motion for next week’s debate, in which I will be speaking, that is able to receive universal support. When the issue was debated on 1 May last year, Humza Yousaf, the then outgoing First Minister, said that he wanted there to be pretty much unlimited compensation, and I can understand why he wanted that. However, if the motion next week simply asks for the compensation that is advised by the PHSO to be delivered, the Government can be assured of the support of the Scottish Conservatives and, I hope, the support of every party in the chamber. We could send a united and unanimous message to the UK Government that the compensation that is recommended by the PHSO should be delivered, and now.
18:12
The battle of the WASPI women is not my battle or lived experience—it is the battle and the lived experience of the women themselves. With that in mind, earlier today, I spoke to my constituent Liz, who was born in 1953. I know Liz in her capacity as a volunteer at a community hub in Springburn for a charity of which I am a trustee. However, I met Liz late last year, unexpectedly, outside the Scottish Parliament when she came to Holyrood as a WASPI campaigner. Along with many other women, Liz was there to let MSPs know of the very real anger that is felt by WASPI women because of the betrayal by the UK Labour Government.
In the months and years before the UK election, Labour had been absolutely clear that it supported the cause of WASPI women. The party agreed that women who were born in the 1950s who were not appropriately informed of changes to pensions entitlement and who had suffered financially and in other ways should be compensated. After all, that is what the independent ombudsman decided should happen.
As we all know, Labour has since abandoned WASPI women. I mentioned the anger felt by Liz and others towards Labour and Liz told me, “I honestly believed that Labour would do something about this. Keir Starmer and Liz Kendall got their photograph with WASPI women, and now they have turned the tables and are doing nothing. They have turned their cheek.”
Liz was actually very measured when speaking to me. Yes, there was anger, but there was also a dignified and steely determination to continue with the campaign and to secure justice. I have to say that she was actually more worried about others than she was about herself.
UK Government maladministration has caused many WASPI women financial detriment and has undermined the wellbeing of many of them. For much of her working life, Liz held down three jobs, juggling hours to ensure that she was financially independent. If she had been appropriately informed, in a meaningful way—I will come back to that—in all likelihood, she would have made different decisions regarding her finances and her life choices.
Liz thinks that she might have received one letter, perhaps in 2012. If so, it was a brief letter—a few lines with no context, no explanation, no advice on what to do next or how to get appropriate information, and no enclosed leaflet with further details. Liz told me that, at the time, she thought that the letter might have been a scam.
She said to me that she feels that the fight has been going on for years, but she became aware of the campaign just a few years ago and joined the campaign group online. Liz said, “I became far more active last year in campaigning at Westminster and now at Holyrood.” She also said: “Why is the ombudsman there if the UK Government can just ignore it?” Importantly, Liz said, “We didn’t expect to get everything, but we did expect to get something.”
She went on to look at solutions, such as whether WASPI women could get a small supplement to their pension paid to them each month. I do not know whether that would be the right thing to do, but finding solutions is important. However, it should not be up to the WASPI women to have to do that—it should be up to the UK Government.
Does Labour still believe that women should be compensated, but think that the public finances make that challenging? If so, let us look at solutions together. Alternatively, does Labour no longer believe in compensating WASPI women? Liz was concerned about the increasing number of women dying without getting justice. If anyone in Labour still believes in compensating WASPI women, they must act swiftly.
Finally, I offer my heartfelt thanks to Liz for sharing her story and views ahead of the debate. I said that this was her battle—it is actually a battle for us all, but it is her lived experience. I give the final word to Liz once more. Earlier this afternoon, she told me that, “We are all very angry and we are all ready for a fight.”
18:16
I congratulate Kenneth Gibson on securing the debate, and I am pleased to join calls for the UK Government to reconsider its decision not to award compensation to WASPI women. I am very pleased about some of the points that have been made today, and I hope that it will be possible to get a motion for the debate next week that all political parties in the chamber are able to vote for.
I agree with the SNP and Conservative members when they say that WASPI women have been wronged. I believe that the campaign deserves justice and that we need to continue to do everything that we can, as individuals and in our political parties, to ensure that compensation is provided to WASPI women.
As has been said, in 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found the Department for Work and Pensions guilty of “maladministration” in the handling of the changes to women’s state pension age that were outlined in the 1995 act. That came about as a result of the DWP’s failure to properly inform the women involved of increases—of up to six years in some cases—which left more than 3 million women vulnerable to financial stress, uncertainty and instability.
More than four years since the publication of the PHSO’s report—during those four years, as has been said, more than 270,000 affected women who were born in the 1950s have died—WASPI women continue to fight for justice and fair repayment, in particular in the light of the recent decision to rule out a financial compensation scheme against the losses that they are facing.
The ombudsman found that approximately 60 per cent of affected women were not adequately informed in the early 2000s that changes to the women’s state pension age would apply to them specifically, nor were they sent letters to notify them adequately in advance. Those are all matters that have been considered by the ombudsman. WASPI has repeatedly campaigned across the country to explain the lack of proper communication and the lack of a warning to enable women to make plans to bridge the financial gap until their retirement and to address the financial difficulties in which that has placed them.
Today’s debate is taking place because of the announcement that was made before Christmas. I welcomed the apology that was given to WASPI women at that time. However, it was a major mistake to make the decision and to announce that there would not be compensation paid to WASPI women.
There is a debate to be had about the details of any compensation package, and as someone who has been involved in these issues over many years, I am aware that, if there was to be full compensation paid, that would be exceptionally costly. Nonetheless, to say—after the publication of the ombudsman’s report, and given the level of the loss that many women have suffered—that there should be no compensation at all is completely unacceptable.
I believe that women should not be penalised as a result of past Governments’ miscommunication, and I will continue to do all that I can to ensure that WASPI women receive justice. I look forward to continuing to work on a cross-party basis as convener of the WASPI cross-party group and with colleagues on all sides of the chamber, and within my political party, to try to ensure that we get justice for WASPI women.
18:21
I am pleased to speak in the debate and I congratulate my colleague, Kenneth Gibson, on securing it. I, too, welcome our WASPI women who are in the public gallery tonight—it is great to see women from my constituency here.
How society treats pensioners and those who are most vulnerable is a measure of our humanity. The decision by the UK Labour Government not to compensate the WASPI women, who have worked tirelessly throughout their lives, tells us everything that we need to know about how the Labour Government values pensioners. Despite the ombudsman’s report being clear on the failures of the UK Government and of the DWP, and being crystal clear that compensation is owed, the Labour Government has ignored that. It is an appalling decision and a complete betrayal of the WASPI women. Those women were robbed of their pensions, and there is simply no justification for the UK Government to deny them compensation.
In my constituency, the decision will affect more than 4,700 women in East Dunbartonshire and 6,000 in West Dunbartonshire. The decision not only contradicts the recommendations in the ombudsman’s report, but contradicts what Labour said to get elected in 2024. For years, Labour MPs and MSPs have stated that they support the WASPI women and have promised to help deliver justice. Anas Sarwar said:
“Under my leadership, WASPI women will finally receive the justice they deserve”.
Just back in May, Paul O’Kane said:
“Labour is very clear that we support the principles contained in the PHSO report, which includes the principle that we must compensate those women.”—[Official Report, 1 May 2024; c 45.]
I could go on and on. Labour promised change, but all that the WASPI women got was betrayal and deception.
In June, just prior to the general election, I spoke in a WASPI debate that was brought to the chamber by my colleague, Clare Haughey. In my speech, I said that
“there will be no change under a”
Labour Government, and that the Labour Party had
“decided that WASPI women do not matter to it”—[Official Report, 19 June 2024; c 92-93.]
any more. I am sure that I was not alone in saying that.
Only six months later, we were proved right. Days after the announcement, I stood in solidarity with WASPI women outside the Parliament, and I look forward to meeting with WASPI women across my constituency in the coming weeks. The decision was a huge and devastating blow to the WASPI women and I stand firm with them. Time is, unfortunately, not on their side, and I know that, sadly, many WASPI women have passed away without receiving any compensation. They have received setbacks before, and in the face of those setbacks they have remained courageous and determined. They have put the work in and have campaigned tirelessly for a decade now, and it is time for them to see action and to see money in their bank accounts.
With a Labour UK Government, however, I do not expect to see change any time soon. I welcome Katy Clark’s contribution tonight, and I urge her and her colleagues to put pressure on Keir Starmer and to stand up to him to bring about justice for our WASPI women. We do not want to continue using the WASPI women as photo opportunities—we want to stand firm with them. Only time will tell, but as of now, it is as clear as day that only the SNP will champion the WASPI women’s right to fair and fast compensation, and only the SNP will continue to stand with them and push the UK Government to take action.
18:24
I thank Kenny Gibson for securing the debate, and say hello to the WASPI women in the public gallery: you are welcome.
I speak this evening for justice—justice for the WASPI women, born in the 1950s, who have been so unfairly treated and betrayed by various UK Governments. Those women, who have contributed so much to our society—who have worked hard, raised families and built communities—deserve far better than the injustice that they have endured.
As other members have said, the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign is not about rejecting the equalisation of pension ages between men and women: it is about fairness, and about recognising the unacceptable manner in which the changes to the state pension age were implemented—abruptly, unfairly and without adequate notice. The PHSO has made clear that there was “maladministration”, and many women were given little or no warning that their state pension age would increase. For some, that has meant having to work for up to six years longer than they had planned or prepared for. Women who had worked for decades, often in low-paid and insecure jobs, suddenly found themselves facing financial uncertainty, unable to retire when they had expected and unable to plan for the future.
The UK Government failed to fulfil its duty to inform those women, to consult them or to allow them time to adjust to such significant changes in their lives. As a result, millions of women have been left out of pocket, struggling to make ends meet, while their retirement dreams have been shattered.
The stories of those women are heart-wrenching. WASPI women in the North East Scotland region and elsewhere have shared their pain and frustration about being forced to rely on food banks, and about being unable to heat their homes or having to continue in jobs that are physically or emotionally exhausting. Some have had to take on care-giving responsibilities while simultaneously trying to earn a living, at a time in their lives when they should have been enjoying well-earned rest.
We must not ignore the gendered nature of this injustice: women already face economic disadvantage throughout their lives through the gender pay gap, inequality in caring responsibilities and working in undervalued and underpaid sectors. The mishandling of state pension age changes has only compounded those inequalities. That is why compensation is not just necessary, but a moral imperative. The women are not asking for charity—they are demanding justice and just what they are owed after a lifetime of hard work, contribution and sacrifice.
The current UK Government’s refusal to acknowledge its failure and to provide fair compensation to those women is a shameful abdication of responsibility. It is a question not of affordability, but of priorities. If there is money for tax breaks for the wealthy, and if there is money—billions of pounds—for corporate bailouts, there is money to right this wrong and provide WASPI women with fair compensation.
We do not have powers in the Scottish Parliament to enable us to resolve the issue directly, but we have a responsibility to stand in solidarity with WASPI women, and to amplify their voices and demand that the UK Government act now, because justice delayed is justice denied. WASPI women have waited long enough—they deserve an apology, they deserve recognition and they deserve compensation.
To the WASPI women of Scotland and across the UK I say, “We hear you. We, in the Scottish Greens, stand with you and we will not stop fighting for your rights”—because justice for WASPI women is justice for us all.
18:28
I, too, congratulate Kenny Gibson on securing the debate, and I welcome the WASPI women to our Parliament.
To add context to my contribution, I feel that it is important primarily to set out the circumstances as they might have been a few decades ago for many women across Scotland, especially women who are of pension age now.
We already understand—and it is widely accepted—that women have disproportionately borne the burden of care responsibilities. Women, in particular those in low-income or part-time employment, have also long been disadvantaged in the working environment.
I thank Close the Gap for its briefing, which sets out clearly how the pension system was designed around the model of a male breadwinner role in a way that fails to account for the disrupted work patterns of women who have care-giving responsibilities. Although we have moved on in attitudes and employment practices to help to alleviate that inequality, progress has been slower than is acceptable, and throughout the time of the WASPI women’s working years, the world really has become a different place.
Because they often have to care for children and other family members and are usually the first to sacrifice employment altogether because of family commitments, women retire with significantly less savings than men. On average, women have £123,000 less in pension savings than their male counterparts. A woman who is aged 25 today would need to work a staggering additional 18 years in full-time employment to retire with the same pension pot as a man. The stark fact is that two thirds of pensioners who are living in poverty are women and half of them are single.
That injustice stems from a series of failures, and the decision to raise the state pension age for women who were born in the 1950s without proper communication or consideration of its impact only exacerbated the impact of those failures. Women were left unprepared and unable to make the necessary financial arrangements, and many faced, and continue to face, significant hardship as a result. Notwithstanding the emotional distress that has been caused by the woeful handling of the fiasco, the ombudsman was clear that the women who are affected are owed compensation.
Let me share the story of Olive Sharpe. Olive is the co-ordinator of the Banff and Buchan WASPI supporters group. Like thousands of women who were born in the 1950s, Olive worked hard for her entire life. She planned her retirement around the understanding that she would receive her state pension at the age of 60. That promise was broken, and Olive was left scrambling to cover her expenses when the state pension age rose unexpectedly for her. Fast forward to recent months, and a glimmer of hope was offered to those WASPI women. In opposition, Labour promised the world. The leader of Scottish Labour said:
“Under my leadership, WASPI women will finally receive the justice they deserve.”
After promising the world to get elected, what did Labour offer our WASPI women? Absolutely nothing. Is that truly what Scottish Labour thinks of WASPI women and what they deserve? Labour said to vote for it for change and all we have seen is short change. The decision is an affront to justice and it perpetuates the systemic inequality that women face in retirement.
Olive’s story is one of resistance and resilience, but it is also one of unnecessary hardship that has been caused by a failure of governance and a lack of compassion. Her story is one among hundreds of thousands across Scotland. Last night, when I spoke to Olive Sharpe, she urged Labour to reconsider and asked me to put a question to Scottish Labour. Does the current UK Government, which supported the WASPI campaign since the beginning, really wish to add its failure to this maladministration?
Westminster has shown us yet again that, whichever party is elected in London, the people of Scotland and—in this case—the women of Scotland, are continually let down. It is time that compensation was paid and that WASPI women truly get the justice that they deserve.
18:33
I thank Kenneth Gibson for bringing this important debate to the chamber. We will all agree that we have heard some excellent speeches. I also thank the 1950s women—the WASPI women—some of whom are here tonight, for all their hard work over many years in bringing this injustice to the fore. I, too, am a 1950s woman. I thought that I should declare that in the interest of transparency.
In June last year, I spoke in a debate on WASPI compensation after the UK Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s final report recognised the maladministration and ruled that the women who are affected should receive compensation. It feels like groundhog day to be outlining—once again—why compensation should be paid, and imploring the UK Government to reverse from its stated position that it will not do so.
We should recognise the groundhog day of those women who acted in a perfectly rational way to make decisions about their lives and planned for one retirement date, unaware that changes to their pension entitlement would cruelly snatch away those plans, with many of them finding that out just before their 60th birthdays. I seems that all their subsequent years of campaigning for justice have come to nothing.
As a member of the cross-party group on WASPI, I have heard testimony about the impact of the changes and have called for compensation for the maladministration. I will continue to stand with WASPI women.
The PHSO recommended that the UK Parliament urgently identify a mechanism for providing an appropriate remedy, and recommended financial compensation to the women who are affected. The PHSO has described the UK Government’s decision not to act on its recommendation as “extremely rare”.
I thank Close the Gap for its briefing for the debate, and I highlight the line that says that
“This refusal to provide fair compensation is an injustice which reflects decision making which penalises women, many of whom are already experiencing low pay and poverty, and sustains systemic gender inequality.”
I cannot help but think that there is an air of misogyny around the decision-making that has taken us to where we are today. Those women worked all their lives, often from the age of 15 or 16 and often in low-paid jobs, while raising families and having other caring duties without the financial support that women today take for granted, including paid maternity leave and free childcare.
My Westminster MP colleague Steve Darling said of Ms Kendall’s announcement:
“The new government has turned its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged through no fault of their own, ignoring the independent Ombudsman’s recommendations, and that is frankly disgraceful.”
However, the Government is not merely turning its back—it is ignoring previous support by the Labour Party for a remedy when it was the Opposition.
The Conservative Party has also avoided its responsibilities. Having created the changes in the first place, it failed to notify the women who would be affected and left the Government without any plans to pay compensation.
To conclude, I say that blame can be passed between the parties, but it does not change the fact that 1950s women have been badly let down, and the only response from the Labour Government is, “Tough.” That is shameful, but the WASPI voice has not been silenced.
18:37
I am grateful to Kenneth Gibson for securing this important debate and for calling on the Labour Government to compensate the WASPI women. I pay tribute to everyone involved in WASPI. They have been a formidable campaign force, and it looked as though they would be successful in getting a financial remedy for the affected women.
Because of UK Government wrongdoing, millions of women across the UK have lost out on their pensions. Figures from the Scottish Parliament information centre reveal that more than 21,000 women in South Lanarkshire could be affected.
The debate comes after the PHSO determined that the UK Government’s actions caused injustice and recommended compensation for the women who were affected.
“I support fair and fast compensation for 1950s women.”
That was the pledge that Keir Starmer signed when he was in Opposition. However, as he did with many policies, Sir Keir changed his tune once he got into Downing Street.
The ombudsman determined that
“DWP decision-making between 2005 and 2007 led to a 28-month delay in starting to send letters to 1950s-born women about State Pension age changes and that;
These delays were maladministration and ... led to injustice”.
Following an evidence session, the chair of the UK Parliament Work and Pensions Committee recommended that the UK Government set up a financial compensation scheme with payments adjusted to reflect the personal impact of pension changes. However, the Labour Government has refused to set up such a scheme, saying that it would be neither
“fair nor feasible and would not represent good value for taxpayers.”
As background, it is important to remember that the increase in state pension aid for women was brought in by the Tories in the 1990s, and that Labour’s maladministration in the noughties caused more injustice. Despite its admission that a previous Labour Government’s delays impacted women, the fact that the UK Government is not giving compensation to WASPI women is an utterly shameful betrayal.
In addition to the ombudsman’s findings, a poll this week found that three quarters of people think that WASPI women should be “fairly compensated”, and a UK Parliament petition on introducing a compensation scheme for WASPI women has reached over 150,000 public signatures. I sincerely hope that it gets many more.
There is clearly public outrage at the UK Government, following its decision not to compensate the WASPI women. What makes it even worse is that Labour MPs had, before they were in power, stood shoulder to shoulder with WASPI women, saying that they supported the campaign and that the women deserved compensation. WASPI chair Angela Madden has said, quite rightly, that that inaction questions the integrity of Labour politicians. She is right to point out that
“The Parliamentary Ombudsman is there to hold the Government to account. Labour’s decision to ignore it rides roughshod over our constitutional checks and balances.”
I agree with the WASPI women that the Labour Government is wrong to ignore the ombudsman’s recommendations. That is a shameful betrayal of pensioners. The UK Government must U-turn and give women who are affected by state pension inequality the compensation that they deserve.
18:41
This is an important debate, which brings an essential issue to the chamber. It recognises that, clearly and simply, the WASPI women deserve compensation.
I welcome the WASPI women who are in the public gallery. When meeting WASPI women directly, I have heard their stories and their fears about the serious impact that their disadvantage will have on their lives. Their stories have moved us all, and it would not be right for me to hide from the commitments that I have made in the past. It is impossible to argue that women who were born between 1950 and 1960 have not had to fight for equality their whole lives. Many of those women started their working lives at a time when workplaces were not structured to support or welcome them. As they started their careers, it is likely that they were employed prior to the Equal Pay Act 1970, at a time when many would have been expected to leave work when they got married or had children.
Those women have now been disadvantaged further through serious mismanagement in communications about how they would receive their state pension. That is clear. As we have heard, more than 300,000 women in Scotland have been impacted by the scandal. The decision to increase the age in the Pensions Act 2011 affected 2.6 million women across the UK, and it led to financial and emotional distress for women throughout Scotland. Those affected have had to adapt rapidly and, in many cases, to completely change their plans for their future retirement and make up for any financial losses, if they could anticipate what that would mean.
In March 2024, as we have heard, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman revealed the Government’s failing and said that the women “deserve compensation”. Therefore, I think that we all agree that the refusal by Governments to provide any compensation thus far is absolutely unacceptable. Without the ability to plan for the future properly, the emotional impact on those women has taken a concerning toll that, for some, can become insurmountable. That has serious mental health impacts, which WASPI campaigners have fought repeatedly to expose. There are numerous knock-on effects on the quality of life that the women are able to lead now, including serious struggles to afford the necessities of life while experiencing anger and disappointment at a system that does not seem to value their contribution at all—a system that does not work for people.
Although they are appropriate, the acknowledgement and the apology from the UK Government do nothing for the women who have been left short and turned away throughout their lives. We all recognise the economic disaster that the Government must deal with, but, given the decades-long fight that those women have had to put up in order to expose Government failings, an apology is not acceptable—it does not rectify such an injustice. In a country in which the pension age gap sits at 39 per cent, the Government’s response is simply not acceptable to WASPI women, who have provided so much to our communities and economy.
I commend Carol Mochan and Katy Clark, because I know that it is very difficult to be so principled in your contribution when your party has taken a view.
Always speak through the chair.
I thank Christine Grahame for her intervention, and I know that my colleague Katy Clark and other members who support the WASPI women in this injustice will welcome it, too. It is really important to have such a good debate and to hear good points from across the chamber.
More needs to be done, compensation needs to be provided and we all need to stand with the WASPI women until it is secured.
18:46
I thank my friend and colleague Kenny Gibson for bringing the debate to the chamber, and I thank the WASPI women who have come along today and those who continue to campaign in our communities.
With such long debates, it can often be difficult near the end to find something to say, but I will say that I am absolutely sick of this. I am sick of how WASPI women have been treated by the UK Government, and I am sick of lives being ruined by each and every Westminster Government—Westminster promises are made and then cruelly forgotten.
Today’s debate is on an issue that cuts to the very heart of fairness, justice and respect for those who have worked hard all their lives, only for the promises that were made to them to be casually discarded by successive UK Governments. The women now known as WASPI women—those who were born in the 1950s—have been cruelly let down by changes to the state pension age. I make myself clear, as many of my colleagues have done: I stand firmly with the WASPI women in their on-going fight for justice. Those women did everything that we asked of them—they raised families, built communities and contributed to our economies—only to have their retirement plans ripped from under them with little notice and no meaningful consultation.
To make matters worse, the same women were promised support from every Labour candidate in Scotland during last year’s general election, only to be let down once again. The UK Government, whether led by the Tories or Labour, has consistently failed those women. In fact, this issue proves everything that is wrong with Westminster politics. Decisions are made without regard for the human impact, and there is an unwillingness to admit when mistakes have been made and a complete lack of empathy for those affected.
The pension changes that were introduced by the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 were not only poorly communicated but catastrophically handled. Women who were just years away from retirement suddenly found that they had to work longer, sometimes for as long as six years, with no time to plan for financial or emotional consequences. Many of those women now find themselves in financial hardship through no fault of their own.
What has Westminster done to address the issue? The answer is simple—nothing. The Tories have dismissed the WASPI women’s concerns with cold indifference, while Labour, for all its rhetoric, has failed to offer any credible plan to right that incredible wrong. Whether someone wears a red rosette or a blue rosette, the message from Westminster for those women is the same: “We do not care”. The WASPI women are people we know—they are in our communities, and many of them will be members of our family. They are not asking for charity; they are asking for what they are owed. Let us be clear that this is not just about the money, although that is critical; it is about recognition, justice and treating people with the respect that they deserve after decades of hard work.
It is often said that a society should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. By that measure, Westminster has failed miserably. It has been good to hear during today’s debate that the SNP and some other colleagues in the chamber will continue to stand with the WASPI women in their fight for justice. Westminster might have let them down, but let us hope that the people of Scotland do not.
18:49
Good evening, Presiding Officer, and thank you for calling me to speak in tonight’s debate on compensation for the WASPI women.
I am privileged to represent the North East Scotland region, which is home to Linda Carmichael, who is the WASPI Scotland chair. I am grateful to Linda and the other WASPI delegates for travelling to the Parliament last month and for speaking to me about their campaign for pension justice. I heard from them at first hand about the hardship of needing to find unexpected work to make ends meet and the impact that seeing the retirement for which they had worked so hard slip further and further away has had on their faith in the system. Of course, that has not affected only them. It has meant that they have had less time to spend with their grandchildren and on volunteering, and it has imposed restrictions on their spending, all of which has had an impact on their communities and the local economy.
However, those women to whom I spoke also had hope, and it was clear that, through their work on the campaign, they had found kindred spirits, a strengthened belief in what they could achieve together and a contagious confidence in their cause. That is the power of collective organising, which is a power that is available to us all, whatever our circumstance. I put on record my thanks to every member of the campaign in Scotland and across the UK for their determination and persistence in the face of injustice. I welcome the women in the gallery and say to them how glad we are that they are here.
I know that the WASPI campaigners will not give up, and neither will we, because, as we have heard, women who were born in the 1950s were not properly informed of the rise in their state pension age. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigation found that the Department for Work and Pensions failed to communicate the changes accurately, adequately and in a timely manner, and it concluded that the women affected are owed compensation on the grounds of maladministration by the DWP. That is why it was right for the UK Government to recognise the injustice suffered by those women and to apologise for that maladministration, which has affected hundreds of thousands of women in Scotland and across the UK.
Although the steps that the Government has set out to ensure that that does not happen again are welcome, an apology is simply not enough. That is why I support the motion that my colleague Katy Clark has lodged, which calls on the UK Government to reconsider its decision not to award compensation for women against state pension inequality and to look at options to provide those women with a compensation award. When we speak about the WASPI campaign or the WASPI injustice, we are not talking only about an injustice to 1950s women; we are talking about an injustice to all of us, to our communities and to our society, because the issue is one that affects us all. When the WASPI women win, we will all win.
18:52
I commend Mr Gibson for bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I, too, welcome the WASPI campaigners to the gallery.
Tonight, we debate another injustice that has been inflicted on women in our country—the betrayal of WASPI women. This is an injustice that has been inflicted not by accident but as a result of deliberate Government failure. The women whom we are talking about, who were born in the 1950s, worked hard and did everything right—they planned for their retirement and they contributed to our society in every way. Their resilience in the face of injustice is truly inspiring.
This issue is not a matter of policy; it is, of course, a matter of principle. When Governments make decisions that affect millions of lives, they have a duty to communicate them clearly, fairly and in good time. That did not happen. Too many women were left unaware, unprepared and unsupported as they faced years of financial hardship. Now, when those women seek justice, they are met with excuses and delays. The failure to properly inform WASPI women has had real and lasting consequences. It has forced many to work longer than they had planned to work, to struggle financially and, in too many cases, to suffer alone in silence.
The issue that we debate tonight is not only about pensions; it is an issue of fairness. It is about ensuring that Governments do not change the rules without warning, that people are treated with dignity and that those who have been affected by the changes in question receive the recognition and the compensation that they deserve. Scotland cannot stand idly by while our mothers, grandmothers and sisters are treated with such contempt.
The UK Government must be held accountable, and proper support for Scotland’s WASPI women must be delivered. The ombudsman found that, in the light of UK Government failures, the women should be given compensation, saying that the UK Government must “do the right thing”—and so it should.
We had excuses and delays from the Tories, and we now have more broken promises from the Labour Party. The UK Government must do the right thing. I am very glad that, this evening, this Parliament is sending out that message loud and clear.
18:55
Just before Christmas, dozens of WASPI women from across Scotland gathered outside Parliament in protest. I was pleased to host them when they met the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, and numerous MSPs. That meeting took place only two days after the shock announcement that the UK Labour Government was to ignore the PHSO’s recommendations and fail to provide them with compensation.
In my Rutherglen constituency, alarm bells started to ring at the end of the summer when it was revealed that our local MP, a UK Government minister, had written to a constituent to say that he did not believe that universal compensation would be right. He was one of the scores of Labour MPs and Labour parliamentary candidates right across the country who appeared to support the WASPI Scotland campaign before the general election.
Alongside Keir Starmer, the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, pensions secretary Liz Kendall and Scottish secretary Ian Murray, Labour MPs and MSPs had merrily posed for photographs for years, even signing WASPI pledges to state that they supported fair and fast compensation.
My constituent, Anne Potter, who is the co-ordinator of WASPI Glasgow and Lanarkshire, did not mince her words when she appeared live on the BBC the day after the UK Government’s announcement. Anne said that she was “absolutely disgusted” and that the decision was
“a slap in the face”.
She went on to say that she felt that Labour had led WASPI women up the garden path, noting:
“They signed our pledges. They showed interest. When I heard that announcement yesterday, which came out of the blue, I was absolutely flabbergasted.”
Let us be clear that the UK Government has made an unprecedented political choice. It has ignored the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog, which will of course leave many asking what the point of an ombudsman is, if ministers can simply ignore decisions. However, for the WASPI campaigners who came to Parliament last month, and for the WASPI women across Scotland and the UK, it is much more than a hypothetical exercise.
When I have met constituents who have been affected by changes to their pensions, they have told me deeply personal and sensitive stories. They have told me about the financial and emotional distress that they have suffered, how they have been forced to work past their expected retirement age or live on significantly less income than they had planned for, and how that has intersected with their family life, caring responsibilities and health and wellbeing.
Labour back-bench MPs and the Scottish Labour leader are lining up to say that they are disappointed with the UK Government’s decision, but WASPI women do not need their words of disappointment—they need justice. Despite the initial shock of the UK Government’s sudden announcement, it is clear that those women who visited Parliament in December are not taking it lying down. The fact that many of the women affected will be digesting the news while also coping with the same Government ripping away their winter fuel payment this year must only intensify their sense of injustice. They are not going anywhere, and Keir Starmer’s Government has not heard the last of the issue.
The UK Government is also feeling the pressure from charities and third sector organisations. The charity director of Age UK has said that it simply
“isn’t credible for the Government to contradict the Ombudsman’s painstaking report”.
More than 21,000 women in South Lanarkshire have lost out on pension payments, completely upending their lives. They deserve so much better than the Labour Government’s betrayal of their trust. I am proud to be in a party that has shown them unwavering support, and that will continue to do so. The SNP will keep to our principled position and concrete commitment in support of the WASPI women. We will continue to hold the Labour Government to account until those women receive the justice that they deserve.
18:59
I thank my colleague Kenny Gibson for bringing this important motion to the chamber. I put on record my thanks and appreciation to parliamentary colleagues who have contributed to the debate. I also pay tribute to the WASPI women who join us in the gallery this evening.
I have been privileged in my capacity as a constituency MSP for Renfrewshire South to engage with the local WASPI campaign on an on-going basis, host meetings in my constituency office, attend and speak at events and, of course, address the issue in Parliament. The importance, urgency and utter necessity of the WASPI campaign has gripped me for some time.
The fundamental issue of trust has clearly emerged over the course of the past hour in which the Parliament has been debating the motion. People pay into the system, play by the rules, and expect to be treated fairly. Then, when they are not treated fairly, they engage in the democratic process, organise and campaign, and gain concessions and commitments from those who seek votes to be parliamentarians and form a Government. Crucially, having seen their position being vindicated—albeit only partially—by an independent ombudsman, people have then seen it dismissed. Trust is a precious commodity in all aspects of life, particularly in politics, and, in many jurisdictions, we are seeing the consequences of what happens when trust has been eroded and lost.
Tonight, 30 years on from when the events being discussed were set in motion, WASPI women join us in a Parliament that did not even exist when the issue started, and they are campaigning and making their presence felt. On behalf of the Scottish Government, I put on record my sincere thanks to the WASPI women for what they have done, not just by campaigning but by serving as role models for all of us in how to seek to advance progress in society and to engage with the democratic system.
The Scottish Government has been consistent in its calls on the UK Government to immediately, or at the earliest opportunity, right the historic wrong that was suffered by WASPI women. When the PHSO report was published in March, the Scottish Government immediately called on the then UK Government to act quickly and to compensate the women who were impacted.
To reiterate the report’s findings, it identified the DWP’s failure to act promptly by writing to the women who were impacted by the state pension age changes and called for compensation to be given to rectify that maladministration. In the previous debate on the topic in the Scottish Parliament, there was a clear consensus that compensation should be paid to those women as soon as possible.
Following the recent UK general election, there was hope that the incoming Labour Government would step up, finally acknowledge the UK Governments’ failings, take into account the financial hardship that the affected women have faced and properly compensate them. However, as we have heard time and time again this evening, that has not been the case.
The PHSO report recommended that the DWP compensate women who were born in the 1950s by providing each woman between £1,000 and £2,950. The last UK Government failed to clearly commit to delivering that compensation and only pledged to consider the PHSO report. As we have heard from many colleagues, the UK Labour Government and Labour parliamentarians at Westminster have signified their support for WASPI women with innumerable documented commitments. The UK Government’s position is indefensible. One cannot give such cast-iron commitments and fail to act on them. It is a clear betrayal of trust.
To be clear, the PHSO’s findings and its recommended compensation relate to the DWP’s mishandling of the communication in relation to the equalisation of state pension age but do not take into account the money that those women have lost from not receiving their state pension when they expected it. The payment is purely to address the handling of the change, so it clearly puts the responsibility squarely at the door of the UK Government to right its own wrongs and to compensate the women who were unfairly affected by the maladministration.
The Scottish Government and MPs in my party have previously called on the UK Government to publish a compensation framework that is set at £3,000 to £10,000 or more for WASPI women. The WASPI campaigners, too, feel that that would be a fairer outcome, given the wider financial hardship that that devastating maladministration has caused.
I touched on the political commitments that those who now occupy office in the UK Government have given. However, the UK Government also has a corporate and institutional responsibility, because it was the actions of its agency—the DWP—that led to that situation. The responsibility is on the UK Government. For there to be no willingness to address the maladministration and the clear errors that have been made erodes trust, faith and belief in our institutions.
There have been many outstanding contributions across the chamber. Kenny Gibson expressed the anger of his constituents and, as many other members have, the impact on WASPI women and their families and the financial hardship. Christine Grahame documented the number of women in her constituency who have been impacted. Douglas Ross set out his long-standing position and support for the WASPI women—even when it put him at odds with his party—and Carol Mochan, Katy Clark and Mercedes Villalba made similar points. Beatrice Wishart clearly set out her party’s position as well. Bob Doris spoke about his constituent Liz, her dignified and absolute determination to fight and of her expression of willingness to find practical solutions. That is the spirit in which the campaign has been and will continue to be conducted. Many other members, including Maggie Chapman and Karen Adam, spoke about the fundamental question of justice, the highly gendered nature of the situation and the gross inequalities that women born in the 1950s faced throughout their working lives, which compounds the sense of injustice that the case brings to bear.
I am grateful to members from across the chamber for their contributions. It has been a very important debate. As George Adam said, the issue is about fairness, justice and respect, and those words embody the ethos, spirit and determination of the WASPI campaign. I can assure the campaign that the Scottish Government continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with it, as does the Scottish National Party.
That concludes the debate.
Meeting closed at 19:08.Air ais
Decision Time