Waspi campaign issues fraud alert over fake compensation claim forms

The Waspi campaign has warned fake compensation claim forms are being posted online by fraudsters trying to steal women's personal details.

Campaigners say multiple unofficial websites that appear to originate outside of the UK have sprung up in recent days wrongly stating women affected by state pension delays can claim up to £2,950.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman told the Government in March to compensate women for failing to adequately inform them their state pension age would be increased, but it has not yet responded to the watchdog’s report.

Waspi protest: During the election campaigners have urged party leaders to back fair and fast compensation

'It is deeply concerning that a number of webpages have appeared in recent days, encouraging those impacted by state pension age changes to provide their personal details through fake claim forms,' says Angela Madden, chair of the campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality.

'The need for compensation is so urgent that it is the most vulnerable women who are most at risk and the Government’s continued dithering is now opening up a space for scammers to target them.'

Madden adds that any announcement of a compensation scheme for Waspi women would come directly from the Government, but none currently exists.

She urged anybody who has given their personal data to a potentially fraudulent website to contact Action Fraud.

Several months ago the Ombudsman asked parliament to intervene and swiftly set up a compensation scheme, over the head of the Department for Work and Pensions.

It recommended those affected should receive £1,000 to £2,950 in compensation, which it says would cost £3.5 to £10.5billion if paid to all women born in the 1950s.

Many women born in that decade have faced hardship while they wait longer than they expected to draw the state pension.

They argued there were major failings in the way the rise in state pension age was communicated.

Two hikes were also speeded up and timed to happen in quick succession in 2018 and 2020, giving them little notice to fill the hole in their retirement finances.

The Waspi campaign says more than 3.6million women born in the 1950s were affected, and those worst affected received 18 months’ notice of a six-year increase in their state pension age.

It claims tens of thousands were plunged into poverty as a result, and one Waspi women dies every 13 minutes while awaiting compensation.

During the current election, the Waspi campaign has urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer to back fair and fast compensation.