Ceredigion Preseli MP Ben Lake has called on the Chancellor to ensure compensation is paid to 1950s-born women as part of the budget this autumn.

The UK budget is due to be announced in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 28 October.

As Plaid Cymru's Treasury spokesperson, Mr Lake has urged the Chancellor to ensure that 1950s-born women are not an afterthought as he forms his budget this year.

Some 7,000 of these women live in Ceredigion Preseli and will be hoping that the Government change course on the matter of paying compensation.

Both the new Chancellor and new Prime Minister made their support for 1950s-born women clear before they entered Government, but they are yet to give any indication of their continued support while in Government.

Many women born after 6 April 1950 have been left in financial hardship, uncertainty and distress due to the implementation of UK Government changes to the State Pension Age.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that the DWP failed to take adequate account of the need for targeted and individually tailored information based on research when making decisions about next steps in August 2005.

They also found that the DWP did not act promptly enough on a November 2006 proposal to write directly to affected women about changes to the State Pensions age, which was not progressed until December 2007.

When combined, these led to a 28-month delay in beginning the direct mailing exercise to women affected by the 1995 Pensions Act.

Following the judicial review and legal settlement in 2025, compensation was once again refused in January 2026 as the DWP Secretary used survey data on general awareness and flawed assumptions of decisions that affected women would have taken to avoid any payments.

Mr Lake, along with his Plaid Cymru colleagues, wrote to the Prime Minister at the beginning of September expressing his deep concern surrounding the Government's treatment of 1950s-born women, and called for long-awaited action.

The letter called on the new Government to take a different approach to its predecessors by reversing the previous decision on the provision of compensation.

Before he took office earlier this year, the prime Minister ruled out paying any compensation to those who claim they lost out owing to changes to the state pension despite having previously backed compensating as many as 3.6 million women.

His proposed solution was to give these women other benefits such as early concessionary travel.

Mr Lake said: "The Prime Minister should demonstrate that he is different from his predecessor by addressing this terrible injustice.

“The affected women have campaigned tirelessly over many years to right this wrong, and so they deserve more than mere words of apology from the Government.

"Regrettably, the UK Government has prolonged the hardship for the affected women by failing to act on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's recommendations, denying compensation for the maladministration that they acknowledge took place.

“The Government cannot admit to failures in the way that these changes were communicated and ignore their responsibility to pay compensation.

"I urge the Chancellor, along with the Prime Minister, to finally deliver justice and accountability for 1950s-born women by beginning talks with representatives of all affected women's groups, and by reversing the Government's previous decision on the provision of compensation so that they receive the financial redress they deserve."

Pamela Judge, Co-ordinator of WASPI (Women Against State Pension Injustice) Ceredigion Preseli, said: "We thank Ben and his Plaid Cymru colleagues for their steadfast support for our campaign for justice.

“They understand our frustration that it has been nearly three years since the Ombudsman ruled that it was maladministration when 1950s women did not receive adequate notice that we would have to wait several more years for our State Pensions.

“Yet governments have refused to set up a compensation scheme as recommended by the Ombudsman.

"Our local MP's letter will remind the Prime Minister that 1950s women are not going away.

“We live in hope that he will eventually right this wrong."