Campaigners have reacted with fury to the government’s “unjustified” rejection of compensation for women hit by changes to the state pension age.
They say 3.6 million women born in the 1950s were not properly informed of the rise in state pension age to bring them into line with men.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall apologised for a delay in sending letters, but has rejected any kind of financial payouts.
Nine months ago, a parliamentary ombudsman recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 to each of those affected.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign described the government’s decision as an “insult”.
“The government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog,” said Angela Madden, who chairs the campaign group.
“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.”
The Waspi campaign had called for payments of at least £10,000 each.
But Kendall said there was evidence that there was “considerable awareness” of the changes to the pension age.
She also said that there was no evidence of “direct financial loss” resulting from the government’s decision.
“Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5bn would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers,” she said.
How the saga unfolded
The age at which people receive the state pension has been increasing as people live longer, and currently stands at 66 for men and women.
But for decades, men had received their state pension at 65 and women at the age of 60.
Under the 1995 Pensions Act a timetable was drawn up to equalise the age at which men and women could draw their state pension. The plan was to raise the qualifying age for women to 65 and to phase in that change from 2010 to 2020.
But the coalition government of 2010 decided to speed that up. Under the 2011 Pensions Act the new qualifying age of 65 for women was brought forward to 2018.
The increases have been controversial. Campaigners claim women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by the rapid changes and the way they were communicated to those affected.
Many thousands said they had no idea they would have to wait longer to receive their state pension, and had suffered financial and emotional distress as a result.