Hansard

The Scottish Government has consistently called on the United Kingdom Government to right the historic wrongs suffered by the WASPI women. The First Minister and I were pleased to meet WASPI campaigners on 19 December 2024, during a rally here at the Scottish Parliament. That meeting allowed us to emphasise the Scottish Government’s continued support for the women’s cause and to reiterate that we stand with them and always will.

I welcome those campaigners who have joined us once again and are in the public gallery today, but I share their deep frustration—indeed, anger—that this debate has to take place at all. However, it is once again necessary to come together to show, and to vote on, our support for the WASPI women. I hope that we can come together today to show solidarity with their campaign and to send a clear message to the UK Government that its handling of the issue has been unacceptable and that compensation should be paid at the earliest opportunity to all the affected women.

When the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was published last year, the Scottish Parliament held two debates. During both of them, we heard widespread support for paying compensation. In fact, when the former First Minister, Humza Yousaf, asked specifically whether a future UK Labour Government would pay compensation, Paul O’ Kane confirmed:

“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.]

It would therefore be helpful to know what exactly has changed since the election of a UK Labour Government. The report in question clearly identified maladministration by the Department for Work and Pensions because of its failure to act promptly by writing to all the women who would be impacted by changes to the state pension age. The Scottish Government is absolutely clear that it is vital that the UK Government take responsibility for those failings, including, importantly, delivering a full compensation package, as was recommended by the ombudsman.

I also call on the UK Government to listen to the WASPI women’s call for a comprehensive compensation package, given the financial hardship that they have suffered, coupled with the UK having one of the worst gender pension gaps among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Age Scotland analysis has identified a UK gender pension gap of 39 per cent, which increases gradually over the course of the average woman’s working life. Research by the Pensions Policy Institute found that, for women to retire with the same pension savings as men, they would need to work for an extra 19 years. By the time the average woman reaches her late 50s, her pension wealth is equivalent to less than two thirds of a man’s. It is time to stop letting women down.

The PHSO report criticises the DWP’s “maladministration” when communicating the equalisation of the state pension ages for men and women and it recommends that the DWP compensate women who were born in the 1950s by between £1,000 and £2,950. The ombudsman investigated complaints that, since 1995, the DWP has failed to provide adequate and timely information about the state pension age and the number of qualifying years that are needed to claim the full rate of state pension.

The report found that, although some timely and accurate information was available, too many women did not understand how they were personally affected by the changes to the state pension. That was highlighted to the DWP, but it chose not to adequately use the research from the Work and Pensions Committee and the National Audit Office to improve its service and performance. The PHSO report states:

“In this respect, DWP did not demonstrate principles of good administration. That was maladministration.”

Despite the publication of the report in March and the ombudsman taking the very unusual step of asking the UK Parliament to intervene on behalf of both the women and the ombudsman, the previous UK Conservative Government failed to make any clear commitment last year on delivering the compensation that was recommended and instead only pledged to consider the report.

Despite the words of support from numerous Labour politicians who have stood with the WASPI women on marches and appeared in photos and newsletters the length and breadth of the country, and who promised a lot more than just an apology, the WASPI women are feeling let down once again. That is why so many women feel betrayed by the new Labour Government.

When the previous Conservative Government was pushed to deliver the compensation on the back of the report, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer’s assertion was that any compensation had to be “fair” to other taxpayers. We now have a Prime Minister stating that to compensate the affected WASPI women would be a “burden on the taxpayer”. As I have said in the chamber before, the only fair approach to the issue is to ensure that compensation is paid to the women at the earliest possible time. I also point out to the Prime Minister and the UK Government that the only “burden” here is the burden of responsibility that is now on them to fairly compensate those who have been affected by the maladministration of previous UK Governments.

The UK Government’s official response was quite remarkable. It was astonishing. It accepts the PHSO’s findings and apologises for the DWP’s maladministration, but it refuses to financially compensate the WASPI women as that

“would not represent good value for taxpayers.”

Surely we can all agree that, if the UK Government is willing to accept responsibility for its actions, it should also face the consequences as laid out in the ombudsman’s report. The PHSO had already highlighted the following:

“DWP indicated it would not comply with our recommendations and that is why, nine months ago, we asked Parliament to intervene.”

In response to the UK Government’s decision, the chair of WASPI, Angela Madden, expertly pointed out:

“This is a bizarre and totally unjustified move which will leave everyone asking what the point of an ombudsman is if ministers can simply ignore their decisions.”

Indeed—what is the point?

In the debate on the WASPI women that my colleague Kenny Gibson led last week, we heard many speakers from across the chamber telling their constituents’ stories and discussing not just their reactions to the UK Government’s decision, but the impact that it has had.

When we heard those statements, I was struck by the clear themes of betrayal, disappointment and anger that came through. All those feelings are exceptionally valid, considering that those women had heard plenty of lines of support and promises of better times under a new UK Labour Government; however, when that Government was elected, it seems that those were nothing more than empty promises.

The Scottish Government and Scottish National Party MPs have been consistent in their support of WASPI women, and that support has never wavered. Prior to the UK elections last year, SNP MP Alan Brown introduced a bill, with cross-party support, calling on the UK Government to publish a compensation framework for WASPI women, to be set at £3,000 to £10,000 or more. The WASPI campaigners feel that that would be a fairer outcome, given the wider financial hardships that the devastating maladministration has caused.

The awarding of such compensation, which would include reference to the wider hardship point, remains the position of the Scottish Government. However, in order to allow the Parliament to speak with one voice, our motion today is simple—a call to deliver justice for the WASPI women by implementing the ombudsman’s recommendations on the compensation payment. It is as simple as that.

As my colleague Maggie Chapman mentioned in a previous debate in the Parliament:

“Every 13 minutes, a WASPI woman—a woman who might have lost several years-worth of her pension; maybe as much as £42,000—dies without justice.”——[Official Report, 19 June 2024; c 90.]

The issue has affected around 336,000 women in Scotland—women who deserve acknowledgement for the wrongs that they have faced and who deserve to be fairly compensated for the mistakes of previous UK Governments. Sadly, because of the UK Government’s inactions, some will never see justice delivered. Across the UK, the number of WASPI women who have passed away since 2015 without seeing justice sits at around 308,000. That is a staggering figure, which should cause anyone who has not supported the campaign to hang their heads in shame.

It cannot be enough to describe today the difficulties that those women have gone through—and, because of that, how extraordinary they are. Despite setback after setback and broken promise after broken promise, a group of women has continued to seek justice, campaign with the utmost dignity and hold to account those in power, regardless of the financial and emotional toll that, no doubt, that has had on them and their families. Their tenacity should be an inspiration to us all.