WASPI women sent 'loud and clear' alert over DWP compensation claim

Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) have been warned about scams promising compensation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The House of Lords has emphasised the need for state pensioners affected by historic payment injustices to be cautious.

Baroness Sherlock, Under-Secretary for the DWP, stressed that there is currently no compensation scheme in place. "Anyone claiming to offer it is scamming, and nobody should touch it-please can that message go out loud and clear," she stated.

The WASPI campaign, which advocates for affected women, reported an increase in fraudulent compensation sites over the summer. Christine Smith, Waspi's Wear and Tees campaign coordinator, said that 65,000 North East women in England were affected and the current Labour Party government was not acting quickly enough.

She issued a warning last week: "A lot of women had already retired to care for their elderly parents or grandchildren. It's devastating for the whole family. It affects men as well, they're having to work longer. When women leave, it's harder to get back into the workplace."

"Up here it's been particularly devastating. Women have lost their homes, got themselves into debt, can't get a job. The first pension act was in 1995. If the Government had told us then, we could have planned ahead. We have never said we disagree with equalisation," reports Birmingham Live.

One Waspi woman blasted the government's inaction, saying: "It makes me pretty angry on account that [Labour] already had a [compensation] plan in place from 2019. I can't understand why this administration is dithering about. The Labour party promised Waspi women they would see justice. Get on with it."

The dispute centres on the state pension age increase for women born in the 1950s, who claim they were not adequately informed about the change and have been seeking redress for almost a decade.