Should the petition reach 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for a debate in Parliament
More than 57,000 people have put their names to an online petition demanding the UK Government apologise and provide financial redress to all 1950s-born women affected by State Pension age changes. The petition has now reached the threshold requiring a written response, which is expected to come from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Back in March 2024, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published a report recommending compensation payments of between £1,000 and £2,950 per woman affected. By December that year, the UK Government acknowledged the ombudsman’s findings of maladministration, but ruled out a blanket compensation scheme that could land taxpayers with a bill of up to £10.5 billion.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden also said last week that no compensation would be paid out. The decision to refuse redress was reconsidered following the rediscovery of a 2007 DWP evaluation, which had previously prompted officials to halt the automatic sending of pension forecast letters, according to the Daily Record.
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Last week, Mr McFadden said: “The evidence shows that the vast majority of 1950s-born women already knew the State Pension age was increasing thanks to a wide range of public information, including through leaflets, education campaigns, information in GP surgeries, on TV, radio, cinema and online.”
He argued that a broader flat-rate compensation system ‘would simply not be right or fair’, whilst specifically compensating only those women who experienced injustice ‘would require a scheme that could reliably verify the individual circumstances of millions of women’.
Nonetheless, Kay Clarke, who launched the petition and founded the 1950s Women of Wales and 50s Women United campaigns, as well as co-founding Pension Partners for Justice, contends: “We ask Government to deliver a fair, timely, fully transparent apology that reflects ALL evidence based on what we think constitutes maladministration and discrimination; and addresses the financial, emotional and personal hardship experienced by 1950s women caused by pension changes.
“Many 1950s-born women have faced lifelong and historic discrimination, compounded by the Government’s failure to properly communicate State Pension age changes.
“DWP Ministers have listened only to a group representing a fraction of those affected, leaving others feeling ignored. As many campaign groups unite, we think it is unacceptable that the Government continues to silence the majority. After decades of inequality, accountability and action are long overdue.”
The ‘Government apology and compensation for 1950s Women affected by pension changes’ petition has been posted on the UK Government’s Petitions Parliament website.
Should it reach 100,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee would consider it for debate in Parliament.
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