Around 3.8 million Waspi women will not receive compensation, the work and pensions secretary has announced after a review of the decision.
The government reconsidered the case after a new document came to light, but has reiterated its earlier conclusion that no compensation should be paid.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has apologised that women born in the 1950s were not sent individual letters about their state pension changes earlier, but they will not receive compensation as a result of communications problems.
But he also warned that a flat rate compensation scheme would have cost more than £10bn.
Mr McFadden told the Commons: “There are legitimate and sincerely held views about whether it was wise to increase the state pension age, in particular, whether the decision taken in 2011 by the coalition government to accelerate equalisation and the rise to the age of 66 was the right thing to do or not.”
But the issue of compensation is based on “how changes to the state pension age were communicated”, not past policy decisions, the minister said.
He also told the Commons: “We accept that individual letters about changes to the state pension age could have been sent earlier.
“For this, I want to repeat the apology that (former work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall) gave on behalf of the Government.
“And I am sorry that those letters were not sent sooner.
“We also agree with the (Parliamentary and Health Service) ombudsman that women did not suffer any direct financial loss from the delay.”
Before it was elected Labour pledged to compensate the women who had the retirement plans hit when their qualifying age for the state pension was delayed by six years to 66.
Women were given just 18 months to change their plans when the original legislation in 1995 said they should have received 10 to 15 years.
Last year the then work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall rejected calls for individuals affected to be awarded between £1,000 and £2,950 each, leading to a furious backlash among Labour MPs.
At the time minister were accused of presiding over a “day of shame” for the Labour government.
In November, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said his department would review the previously-announced policy not to compensate the women born in the 1950s.
The Tories accused the government of performing a “series of handbrake turns” and claimed the government could have compensated the women by scrapping its controversial Chagos Islands deal or reforming the rising welfare bill.
Shadow Treasury minister Mark Garnier recalled previous pledges of support by Labour MPs in opposition for the Waspi women.
“Before getting into Government, it seemed that Labour MPs did think that an injustice had been done,” he said.
Mr Garnier added: “No wonder therefore that the Waspi women who were promised so much are so angry. The people who used to stand beside them have turned against them. If the Government really believed that these women had faced a great injustice, they would have found a way to compensate them.”
He told MPs: “Isn’t it now just fact that this Government resemble, frankly, a bunch of joy riders pulling handbrake turns in a Tesco car park when they should be a serious party of Government?
“Their backbenchers keep being marched up the hill only to be told to march down again. They even take the whip away from them for having a conscience, only to be told later that ministers are proud to support policies that were only recently sackable offences.
“Does he really think this constant back and forth is fair on Waspi women?”






