Waspi women to launch fresh legal action for more compensation over state pension age changes

Women are planning to launch fresh legal action for more compensation over the way changes to their state pension age were communicated.

The Government watchdog has been investigating their complaints but the Women Against State Pension Injustice (Waspi) campaign claims it is “mistaken” over the way women were impacted, and that they are not set to receive as much compensation as they deserve.

The findings from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) full report into the state pension age changes are yet to be published, but Waspi said the group is feeling “insulted and ignored” by the conclusion.

It has launched a Crowdjustice appeal to fund a judicial review in the High Court against the PHSO.

Waspi hopes to raise £100,000 to challenge the PHSO’s decision-making, saying that if just three per cent of the women affected donated £1, they would raise the required sum overnight.

The state pension age changes affected women born in the 50s, who said they had little warning that their retirement age had moved from 60 to 65, in line with men. They said the changes resulted in both financial and emotional distress as they waited years longer than expected for their state pension.

Currently the state pension age for both sexes is 66. It will increase again to 67 by 2028.

In an earlier stage of the investigation, the PHSO found failings in the Government’s communication of the changes. The final stage of the investigation involves establishing what action the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should take to remedy the injustice it found.

This could include a level of compensation for the affected women. However the PHSO cannot recommend the repayment of pension for the years women had to wait.

Waspi believes the PHSO is “seriously mistaken about the injustice… women have suffered”.

The campaign added: “Waspi believe that the Ombudsman’s mistaken approach to injustice could mean many women – perhaps hundreds of thousands – receiving less compensation than they otherwise would.”

Angela Madden, chair of Waspi, said: “Millions of women have been waiting years for justice and the latest findings from the Ombudsman have left us feeling insulted and ignored.

“Now we have to fight back so we are urging people to donate whatever they can to our legal fund. The money is ringfenced for use to defend ourselves against the Ombudsman’s mistakes and put them right so his investigation can be concluded on a proper footing. Every penny will take us a step closer to justice for 1950s born women.”

The DWP maintains the state pension age changes were clearly communicated.

A PHSO spokesperson said: “We are now considering what action DWP should take to put right the injustice we have found. We have shared provisional views with complainants, their MPs and DWP. Once we have considered further evidence we will publish a full report on our findings.”