WASPI campaigners return to Parliament for major event this week | Personal Finance | Finance

WASPI campaigners will be back in Parliament for a key meeting as they continue to call for compensation from the DWP. Ministers announced in December 2024 there would be no compensation for the millions of 1950s-born women represented by WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) and other campaign groups.

But the prospect of payouts is back on the table, as the DWP announced in December 2025 it would retract its previous decision and issue a new one. The Government said there was new evidence they needed to consider. As the campaigners await the new decision from the Government, DWP officials will face questions from the Work and Pensions Committee this week (January 21).

The committee is calling the department to account after the Government’s watchdog, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), has raised “serious concerns” about the department’s lack of action on the WASPI issue.

WASPI represents women born in the 1950s who were impacted by their state pension age increasing from 60 to 65 and then 66. They claim the DWP did not give them sufficient notice of the change, with many left unaware right up to the last minute, ruining their retirement plans.

The Ombudsman previously investigated the issue, and found that there was ‘maladministration’ from the DWP, as they should have sent out letters to the women sooner. In its original decision in 2024, when Labour ministers said they would not provide compensation, they did accept the Ombudsman’s finding of maladministration.

They pledged before Parliament that they would work with the DWP to develop a “detailed action plan” so lessons could be learnt from the debacle. But over a year later, the Ombudsman says there has been little progress – and now the Work and Pensions Committee is demanding answers from the DWP.

Paula Sussex, ombudsman and chair, said in a previous letter to the Work and Pensions Committee: “I have serious concerns about the significant delays in the implementation of the actions that DWP committed to undertake and the communication with my Office in relation to the state pension age investigation.”

The letter continues: “Taking action to address these acknowledged failings should not be dependent on any decision about financial compensation. I am very concerned that stopping this work indicates that DWP is deprioritising the need for remedial action. It is certainly a disservice to the department’s service users and complainants.”

WASPI campaign chair Angela Madden said there will be representatives from the campaign watching the committee meeting. She said: “I think it’s helpful that the DWP know that we are still there and that we’re still interested in everything that they do.

“We are fighting for compensation but we also want them to improve. We really want all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations to be implemented including better communications for all people affected by the DWP’s work.”

Asked if the committee meeting could help put some pressure on the Government to finally award compensation in its new decision, Ms Madden said: “This is the way Parliament hold the Government to account, through these meetings.

“I don’t know if it can direct the work of the DWP, because that’s up to Pat McFadden [Secretary of State for Work and Pensions], but they can perhaps give them strong suggestions about what they feel they should be doing.”

A previous incarnation of the Work and Pensions Committee, under the previous Conservative Government, did call on the Government to set out plans for compensation, in May 2024. But this proposal did not move forward as the committee disbanded shortly afterwards, when the General Election was called.

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