ALMOST a quarter of a million women will have died waiting for pension compensation by the end of this year, according to new figures.

Statista says 220,000 women born in the 1950s have passed away since the start of a campaign to secure compensation for failures to tell them about their pension age rising from 60 to 66.

The research was commissioned by Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI).

Daily Echo: Women born in the 1950s are demanding pension compensation.Women born in the 1950s are demanding pension compensation.

Solent WASPI co-ordinator Shelagh Simmons said: "These appalling figures underline the urgency of resolving this injustice.

"We call on the government to do the right thing and bring this shameful episode to an end.

"We have already waited far too long. For some 1950s women it is already too late, they will never get the justice they are due.”

Dr Julian Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East, added: “There is little doubt that many women’s plans for retirement were utterly undermined by a change in their retirement age which was not advertised in advance.

"The government needs to demonstrate more humanity."

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has found the Department for Work and Pensions guilty of maladministration and is investigating the harm caused.

Daily Echo: MP Julian Lewis says the government "needs to show more humanity".MP Julian Lewis says the government "needs to show more humanity". (Image: Sir Julian Lewis)

Changes to the state pension age were legislated for in 1995 - but the women affected were not sent letters until 2008.

WASPI is calling for immediate one-off payments of up to £20,000.

Spokeswoman Angela Madden said: “Since the Ombudsman has already found that women born in the 1950s were mistreated, the right thing to do is to put in place a compensation package right away."

A DWP spokesman said the investigation was still ongoing.

He added: “We support millions of people every year and our priority is ensuring they get the help and support to which they are entitled.

"The government decided over 25 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality.

"Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.”