𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A decision not to award compensation to Waspi women will be reconsidered by the Government because of undisclosed “evidence”, the Work and Pensions Secretary said.

Pat McFadden told the House of Commons on Tuesday evening that the U-turn came after “evidence” which had not been considered by Liz Kendall in the initial decision.

He said: “We will retake the decision.”

But he added that the reconsideration did not mean that any compensation would be paid out.

He said: “Retaking this decision should not be taken as an indication that Government will necessarily decide that it should award financial redress.”

Senior mandarins do not expect the review of the case to lead to new payouts to the affected women.

Lord Macpherson, Treasury permenant secretary from 2005 to 2016, said he did not expect Labour ministers to make “any concessions on this issue”.

The Government’s review will begin immediately and MPs will be updated as soon as a conclusion is reached.

Ministers announced in December that they would not pay compensation to millions of 1950s-born women following a change to the age at which they could claim their pensions.

A previous report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PSHO) suggested compensation ranging between £1,000 and £2,950 could be appropriate for each of those affected.

It comes as the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign launches a High Court challenge following the Government’s refusal to offer compensation over changes to the state pension age.

The judicial review, which was scheduled for December 9 and 10, would have seen Waspi challenge the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) decision to deny compensation to those affected by the rise in retirement age from 60 to 66.