Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign in London

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners made their voices heard in Parliament Square. 

The women from the North East Hampshire group met up at Waterloo and then joined thousands of women from all over the country outside Westminster for the ‘WASPI can’t wait-compensate’ rally.

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The women from Basingstoke joined a WASPI protest in London (Image: WASPI North East Hampshire) The protest was planned to coincide with the budget announcement and to keep putting pressure on the government to stop dithering and compensate these women.

Yvonne Robinson, co-ordinator of the local Women Against State Pension campaign group, said: “The Ombudsman published his report in March and the government is yet to announce how it will implement the recommendations. One affected Woman died every 13 minutes so we cannot continue to be patient.”

According to the campaigners, successive governments failed to properly inform them of increases to their state pension age, resulting in a call for fair and fast compensation.

Some of the worst-affected individuals received just 18 months' notice of a six-year delay to their state pension, pushing tens of thousands into poverty.

In March 2024, the Parliamentary Ombudsman concluded a lengthy investigation, stating that ministers were at fault and should compensate more than 3.6 million affected women.

Ministers have yet to respond to the report, despite support from hundreds of MPs across the Commons.

For more information, contact nehwaspi@yahoo.com.