WASPI campaign vows to take government watchdog to court over 'serious' errors
Blunders by a government watchdog could see hundreds of thousands of "betrayed" women whose retirement age was unexpectedly increased lose out on compensation, campaigners say.
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) says it plans to take the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to court over “serious” mistakes about the injustice women born in the 1950s suffered.
It told The Mirror it wants a judicial review and will be appealing to the High Court after being left “insulted and ignored”.
The ombudsman is investigating the DWP’s failure to communicate the raise in pension age from 60 to 65, and then 66, in time for those affected to make financial plans.
An estimated 2.3 million women lost up to £50,000 in state pensions as a result, and WASPI is calling for them to be compensated, warning that one dies every 14 minutes without seeing justice.
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Campaign chair Angela Madden said: “Millions of women have been waiting years for justice and the latest findings from the Ombudsman have left us feeling insulted and ignored."
The WASPI campaign is calling for millions of women to be compensated (Manchester Evening News)An initial report by the watchdog said letters should have been sent from December 2006, meaning most would have known they were impacted by 2009.
An ombudsman report published in 2021 said DWP “maladministration” meant women did not get the 28 months’ notice they should have had in order to plan for their future.
WASPI says the ombudsman wrongly assessed the impact on women, and said it is wrong about what they should have to do to prove they suffered.
In a statement campaigners said: “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.”
The organisation has launched a crowdfunder trying to raise £100,000 in legal fees.
Ms Madden said: “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.”
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to resolve the long-running dispute (AP)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.”
In September at the Labour Party conference, stalwart Baroness Glenys Thornton, shadow equalities minister in the House of Lords, said it was "shameful" that no compensation had been awarded.
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WASPI estimates that the average affected woman lost up to £50,000 in State Pension after the retirement age was upped to 65, and then 66 without proper warning - meaning women born in the 1950s couldn't properly plan for their retirement.
Many women born in the 1950s were initially told they would retire at the age of 60 , until the government U-turned in 1995.
That year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) raised the pension age to 65, and in 2011, the government sped up the process - with those born in the mid-50s told they have had to wait until their 66th birthday.
The DWP said: “The government decided over 25 years ago it was going to make the State Pension age the same for men and women.
“Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP under successive governments dating back to 1995 and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.
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