Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaigners are preparing for a fresh legal challenge to fight the Government’s “irrational and unfair” decision to refuse them compensation.
In January, women affected by the way changes to the state pension age were told for a second time they would not receive money after a campaign lasting several years.
Now, senior lawyers representing millions of Waspi women are preparing to write to the Government citing “multiple legal errors” over their continued refusal to deliver compensation.
And they say once they do, Government lawyers will have just two weeks to respond.
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A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman previously suggested compensation ranging between £1,000 and £2,950 could be appropriate for each of those affected by the way state pension changes had been communicated.
Ministers apologised for the mistakes made but stopped short of setting a scheme for financial redress at the time, before Waspi launched a judicial review in a bid to force a rethink.
Campaigners have labelled the Department for Work and Pensions’ compensation stance “irrational and unfair”, describing their approach to affected women as “offensive”.
Waspi has been campaigning for many years and has accused ministers of “failing to take responsibility” for their failures, arguing they are denying the lived experiences of affected women.
They argue the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) based its decision on the awareness of state pension age changes on a narrow set of data which cannot account for the circumstances of 3.5 million women.
In January, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden reiterated the Government’s position that most 1950s-born women were aware of changes to their retirement age and that writing to them earlier would have made little difference.
His update to MPs followed an out-of-court settlement between Government lawyers and Waspi campaigners in December 2024, where ministers agreed to review the entirety of their response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report, including financial redress recommendations.
Despite the review undertaken by the DWP, campaigners say very little has changed since the Government’s initial refusal to compensate Waspi women back in 2024.
Since the Government’s refusal to pay out, hundreds of MPs have spoken out in support of compensation, including dozens across the Labour backbenches.
Angela Madden, chair of Waspi, said: “The Government has had the opportunity to do the right thing for Waspi women. Instead, they have made a political choice to ignore well-established democratic processes, which is irrational, unfair and risks alienating even more voters.
“Women affected by the Government’s failures have waited long enough. If ministers will not listen to the independent ombudsman, their own MPs and millions of people across the country, we will make them listen in court.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State set out the Government’s position in his oral statement to Parliament, including acceptance of maladministration and apology to the women affected.
“Our focus now is on delivering an action plan to implement lessons learned in how DWP communicates State Pension matters going forward.”