Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s Member of Parliament for Salford and Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women, has called out the Government’s decision to once again rule out compensation for women born in the 1950s affected by changes to the State Pension age.

Following today’s statement to Parliament, Rebecca said that “It is frankly wrong that the Government has once again chosen to reject compensation for the 1950s women affected by state pension age changes.”

“The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman stated maladministration and injustice had occurred and they recommended compensation. The advice to Government was clear and blatantly ignoring those recommendations not only undermines the authority of the Ombudsman, it sends a damaging message about how the state responds when it gets things wrong. Put simply: it will not right historic wrongs even when its own independent advisors tell it to.”

Rebecca has long worked with campaigners through her role as Co-Chair of the APPG on State Pension Inequality for Women and says she has heard first-hand from women whose lives were turned upside down by the failure to properly notify them of changes to their retirement age. “I have spoken to women who lost their homes, who were forced to work on despite serious ill health, and who suffered deep anxiety because they were denied the chance to plan for retirement,” she said. “These are not abstract harms. They are the direct consequences of the state getting it wrong.”

Rebecca is now calling on ministers to engage directly with affected women through consultation or mediation to determine what fair compensation should look like. “If the Government is serious about accountability and fairness, it must listen to the women who have lived with the consequences of this failure,” she said. “Justice delayed has already caused immense harm. Justice denied will only compound it.”

—ENDS—

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Notes for editors:

Statement by Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour MP for Salford and Co-Chair of the APPG on State Pension Inequality for Women:-

“It is frankly wrong that the Government has once again chosen to reject compensation for the 1950s women affected by state pension age changes.”

“The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that maladministration and injustice had occurred and they recommended compensation. The advice to Government was clearand blatantly ignoring it not only undermines the authority of the Ombudsman, it sends a damaging message to the public about how the state responds when it gets things wrong.”

I have heard directly from women who lost their homes, were forced to continue working while seriously unwell, or experienced profound anxiety and distress because they were denied the chance to plan properly for retirement. Their lives were destroyed and today they are not just devastated, they feel gaslit.

“So if the Government is serious about justice, it must engage directly with the women affected. I am calling for meaningful consultation or mediation with 1950s-born women and their representatives to shape what fair and proportionate compensation should look like in practice.

“This is not about reopening past policy decisions. It is about whether, when the state is found to have failed its citizens, it has the courage to put that right. On this issue, the state failed and Government is still falling short.”