Essex WASPI women to take pensions fight to Westminster on Budget day

By Ben Shahrabi

Urgent calls - WASPI South East Essex coordinators Frances Neil and Deborah Dalton with Essex MP David Burton-Sampson. (Credit: WASPI)

DETERMINED Essex women are set to march in Westminster this week, to protest how changes to their pensions caused “chaos” for millions of them.

Members of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign group are intensifying calls for “fast and fair compensation”.

It follows a report which found the Department for Work and Pensions “failed” to properly communicate changes to the state pension age before 2009.

Campaigners say ministers are yet to take action, six months after the Parliamentary Ombudsman published its findings.

On Wednesday afternoon (October 30), Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her first Budget statement to Parliament.

Meanwhile, thousands of WASPI women plan to travel from Essex to London’s Parliament Square for a national demonstration.

Retired headteacher Frances Neil is a campaign co-ordinator for the South East Essex branch of WASPI. She says thousands of women in the region had their retirement plans “thrown into chaos” by the state pension age increase.

She added: “With one WASPI woman tragically dying every 13 minutes, ministers must urgently step in to make sure justice is finally delivered.

"We simply cannot afford to wait any longer.

“The Parliamentary Ombudsman delivered clear recommendations more than six months ago, calling on ministers to fairly compensate those affected as soon as possible.”

Those worst affected received just 18 months’ notice of a six-year delay to their state pension, which campaigners say “plunged tens of thousands of women into poverty”.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report concluded the government should pay compensation to more than 3.6 million affected women.

David Burton-Sampson, Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, backs the WASPI campaign, calling for fair compensation and an apology from ministers.

He added: “Through no fault of their own, tens of thousands of WASPI women are suffering financially.

“With thousands of women affected locally, I will continue to advocate for the justice they deserve until they are fairly compensated.”

Earlier this month, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told Parliament she had previously met with WASPI representatives, adding the matter “requires serious consideration”.

She said: “We will do everything possible to get this issue resolved as soon as possible.”

For more information about Wednesday’s protest, contact WASPI South East Essex via email.