Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen West WASPI campaigners are calling on MPs to support compensation for around 15,000 women.

1950s-born women across the two Pembrokeshire constituencies have started writing to their MPs to ask them to support their call for fair and fast compensatory solution, following a report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

On July 20, the Ombudsman ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was guilty of maladministration from 2005 onwards, when it failed to contact 1950s-born women in person to inform them of changes to their State Pension Age - despite research revealing that the majority of women did not know their pension age had changed.

Approx 15,000 women in across the two Pembrokeshire constituencies are affected by this decision.

Jackie Gilderdale, organiser of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen West Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI), said:

“We are calling on Stephen Crabb and Simon Hart to press for a cross-party solution for us that is fair and fast. Many of the affected women have already died while waiting for this to be resolved.

"We need compensation quickly.

“We have been saying for years that the DWP got it wrong when they failed to tell us about these changes. They were clearly going to have serious implications for the financial futures of millions of women throughout the UK.

“This has had a profound impact. Women have had significantly reduced quality of life. There has been a knock-on effect on families, with husbands who had wished to retire having to continue working, grown-up children who had hoped for support with childcare being disappointed and elderly parents who might have been cared for at home having to go into residential care.”

Pembrokeshire and Carmarthen West WASPI have asked for meetings outside the constituency offices of Stephen Crabb MP at 10am on August 21 and Simon Hart MP at 10am on August 28.

Added Jackie Gilderdale: "We are encouraging 1950s women and their families to bring letters with them on the day to hand directly to their respective MPs."

Mr Crabb has told the group: "I will pay close attention to any further response from the DWP to the PHSO's ruling of maladministration, and hope that any compensation which the DWP views as appropriate is delivered in a timely manner."

A DWP spokesperson said: “Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.

“In a move towards gender equality, it was decided more than 25 years ago to make the State Pension age the same for men and women.”