Andy Burnham has agreed to meet WASPI campaigners to discuss compensation for the state pension age scandal, just days before he becomes prime minister.
Angela Madden, who chairs the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group, confirmed the incoming PM accepted an invitation for further talks after a meeting during the Makerfield by-election last month.
“Andy Burnham has agreed to meet WASPI campaigners to discuss compensation for the state pension age scandal.”
“WASPI met with Andy Burnham during the Makerfield by-election, where he confirmed his long-standing support for the campaign, recognising the injustice many 1950s-born women have suffered,” Madden told The Mirror.
Burnham, who becomes prime minister on Monday, said at a hustings in the constituency that he felt “uncomfortable” with how politicians treated WASPI women after backing them in opposition. “I have long supported the campaign and I feel uncomfortable when politicians were all holding up their banner and then got into government and didn’t do anything,” he said. “So I stick by the campaigns that I support. I stuck by the Hillsborough families and I will stick by the WASPI women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”
More than two years ago, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) called for a compensation scheme to be urgently rolled out, with payouts of £1,000 and £2,950 for over 3.5 million women. But his team later clarified Burnham was not planning a £10.5billion compensation package. Instead, they indicated he would look at options such as concessionary bus and rail travel – a measure he introduced as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Madden said WASPI had accepted the offer to discuss “what potential redress for 1950s-born women looks like”, adding: “The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s findings were six years in the making, and they deserve exactly this kind of serious engagement – something WASPI women have not received from successive governments.”
A campaign source said: “Andy has always recognised the unfair way in which state pension equalisation was introduced.”
Campaigners now expect Burnham to stand by his pledge to discuss redress once he takes office. Madden said WASPI has “always been willing to discuss a fair route to compensation, working with any politician, from any party, who wants to work with us to bring this long-running injustice to an end.”