Scotland’s Waspi Women pay the price of the Union

Scottish pensioners already face one of the lowest state pensions in the developed world. But the group of Waspi women have suffered pension injustice that means they were short-changed on even that. 

If Scotland were an independent country it could model its pension provision on a country like Denmark and offer a Wellbeing Pension, set at the level required to sustain a life of dignity, where every older person can afford the basic necessities of life.

But when it comes to pensions, Scots are at the mercy of the UK government. Only with the powers of independence can it change the way our older citizens, in particular Waspi women, are being treated. Sadly the UK government has now refused to pay these women even the small sum in compensation that the UK Parliamentary watchdog said they should receive. 

Here are six questions answered about this situation

1 Who are the Waspi women?

They are a group of women, born in the 1950s who have been short-changed on their state pensions due to rule changes. The name stands for - women against state pension inequality. There are almost 250,000 of them in Scotland. 

2 What are the pension changes that affected them?

There used to be a different age for women and men to retire - it was 60 for women and 65 for men. In 1995, the UK government introduced a timetable to make the age at which men and women start getting state pensions the same. The state pension age for women would gradually rise to 65, between 2010 and 2020.

Then in 2010, the coalition government decided to speed up the change, bringing it forward to 2018 - that caught out a group of women who weren’t expecting this.

In 2014, more rule changes meant that anyone who has not paid 35 years of NI stamps can’t get the full basic state pension. That caught out a lot of women who had not worked while they brought up children. 

3 Why was this unfair?

This generation of women often had part-time jobs because of caring responsibilities. They were already often facing a low-income retirement as a result. But being hit by all of these rule changes has meant many are now struggling, unable to afford the basics of a dignified life. 

The stricter NI rules were particularly hard on women who had taken time out of the workplace to care for children or elderly relatives. They might have made different choices if they had had a warning that this would happen early enough. 

There were too many changes over too short a time impacting on this cohort of women, starting when they were already halfway through their working lives - they didn’t have enough time to adjust. 

Many of these women did not find out about the changes and how they would affect them. The DWP did not write to women telling them about it, in many cases until just before they retired. This was a financial shock that many did not have the resources to cover. 

4 What happened when the women complained?

An investigation was launched into the Waspi women’s complaints in 2018. It reported in March 2024

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated and concluded that the Department of Work and Pensions had not communicated the changes properly to the women concerned: 

“Failings in the DWP’s complaint handling caused unnecessary stress and anxiety. It meant there was a missed opportunity to reduce complainants’ distress. It also caused unnecessary confusion for some complainants.”

5 What did the watchdog recommend?

The ombudsman recommended that the women should get some compensation It said they should get payments of between £1,000 and £2,950 - that is less than the Waspi campaign group asked for which was £10,000 per woman. 

The ombudsman felt the Waspi women were entitled to something, in recognition of the injustice they have suffered. It said: “When we find that people have suffered injustice because of failings, we usually make recommendations to put things right.

“It is extremely rare that an organisation we investigate does not accept and act on our recommendations. But we have no legal powers to make them do this. When an organisation does not follow our recommendations, we can present a report to Parliament so it can act to protect citizens’ rights.”

6 Why are the Waspi women so angry? 

When the ombudsman finally concluded its report after a six-year inquiry, during which time many thousands of the affected women had died, most of the Waspi women were expecting that they would get at least around the recommended £3,000 in compensation. 

That is not enough to fund the gap that most of them have in their pensions, but it would have been something. At least it would have been a recognition of the fact they were short-changed. 

And in the short term it would have enabled them to keep their heating on for perhaps a couple of winters - these women have also lost out on the winter fuel allowance. 

They also had reason to hope that the new UK government might increase the sum. But instead, Labour has decided to pay them nothing at all. 

6 Why do the Waspi women feel betrayed?

On many occasions over the last few years, as they campaigned for election, many Labour party members from Keir Starmer down have stood beside the Waspi women holding banners and promising to help them when in government.

They said they understood what had happened to these women and that they agreed they had been the victims of injustice. They said they would do something about it. But now they have decided that they can’t find the money even to pay what the ombudsman said these women should receive.

Conclusion

One group of women, the Waspi women, seemed to be singled out to face the brunt of changes in the pension rules.

They had to deal with at least three very significant changes that hit when they were already half way through their working lives. By this time, they had made decisions, such as to devote years to child rearing and caring responsibilities.

On top of that many of them were not officially informed about the new rules and how they would be affected until just before they retired.

These women are paying the price of Union. An independent Scotland could offer a pension based on what a person needs to afford the basics of life - the Wellbeing Pension.

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