WASPI pension replace as Keir Starmer hints long-running saga might finish quickly

Keir Starmer has hinted an end to the long-running WASPI saga could finally be in sight.

The Prime Minister is under growing pressure to respond to a bombshell report calling for urgent compensation for victims. It has been nine months since the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said over three million women born in the 1950s should receive payouts.

But the Government is yet to say what it intends to do, sparking anger and frustration among campaigners. Thousands were plunged into poverty after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to inform them the state pension age was going up.

During the General Election campaign Mr Starmer accused the Tories of “kicking the can down the road” – but is accused of doing the same. He told reporters travelling to the G20 summit in Brazil: “The DWP Secretary (Liz Kendall) will making a statement on this in the not too distant future.

“So obviously it’s a very serious report, and the response will be set out by the DWP Secretary.” Last week analysis by the WASPI campaign found that 300,000 victims had died since calls for compensation were launched in 2015.

It is estimated that one woman dies every 13 minutes – meaning 25,000 will have passed away since Mr Starmer became PM. In March the PHSO recommended that the government pay between £1,000 and £2,950 to each woman affected.

Campaigners say the average victim missed out on over £50,000 in pension payments. Last week Ms Kendall told MPs she was working as “quickly as humanly possible”.

But no money was set aside in the Budget, sparking anger from campaign groups. Between April 2010 and November 2018 the State Pension age for women gradually increased from 60 to 65.

It went up again to 66 in October 2020, and is due to go up to 67 by 2028.