𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Campaigners have accused the Government of “lying through its teeth” over claims it cannot afford to pay compensation to women affected by increases to the state pension age. The Treasury is sitting on a fund of up to £70 billion according to Silver Voices, which fights to protect the interests of older people.

Director Dennis Reed pointed out that the Prime Minister previously backed paying “recompense”. He said: “Andy Burnham must stop wriggling out of his firm promises”. Silver Voices called on the Government to use money going spare in the National Insurance Fund to compensate so-called WASPI women, who are currently locked in a legal battle with Ministers. The fund holds contributions from employees, employers and the self-employed, which are kept separate from other revenue raised by national taxes and used to pay benefits including the state pension.

HM Revenue and Customs documents show the fund held £79.3 billion in March last year. The Treasury aims to ensure the fund holds 16.7% of projected annual benefit expenditure at any one time – which is around £24.2 billion. It suggests up to £55 billion could potentially be available for other uses.

The Treasury insisted any spare cash in the fund was invested, earning interest for the taxpayer and reducing the amount the Government needs to borrow.

But Mr Reed said: “The Government is lying through its teeth when it says that just compensation for the WASPI women cannot be afforded. There is an unused surplus of over £70 billion sitting in Treasury coffers, which has been funded by workers’ and employers’ National Insurance contributions, a small part of which should be used to put this scandal to bed.

“Not only is the funding available, it could be signed off tomorrow without spooking the markets or leading to budget cuts elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of these proud women have already died waiting for redress and it is time that this scandal was consigned to history.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “This fund is to ensure the State Pension and other contributory benefits can continue to be paid. Money that is not immediately needed to pay benefits is invested, earning interest for the Fund and reducing the amount the Government needs to borrow.”

Mr Burnham appeared to support paying compensation to WASPI women when he was standing as a candidate in the Makerfield by-election in June. He told a hustings event: “I’ll stick by the WASPI women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.”

But the Government is continuing to reject the recommendation of the parliamentary ombudsman, which has called for compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for each of those affected. Campaigners 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,

The Department for Work and Pensions said compensation could cost up to £10.5 billion, warning: “The burden of such a significant financial commitment would fall on current and future taxpayers … there are very clear indications that borrowing today will add to a significant national debt burden in the future.”

The WASPI campaign is pursuing a judicial review but has invited the Government to take part in talks as an alternative to legal action