Many supporters have chipped in towards WASPI’s legal costs
The WASPI campaign (Women Against State Pension Inequality) has shared an update on what will happen to the fundraiser for its judicial review claim. The campaigners are set to make their case at the high court next month, urging the top judges to overturn the DWP’s decision not to grant compensation for 1950s-born women.
But the DWP has now announced it is withdrawing its decision not to provide payouts in light of new evidence, and that it will issue a fresh decision on the matter. The judicial review is still set to go ahead, on December 9 and 10.
A public fundraiser to cover WASPI’s legal costs has raised more than £252,000 to date, with over 15,000 people chipping in. Angela Madden, chair of WASPI, spoke about how the funds are being used.
She said: “Most of it has been used, because we’ve had the lawyers working on it, we’ve prepared all the case documents. The two days in court have a cost, but it’s not a massive cost compared to all the time the lawyers have spent so far.”
The campaign previously secured a costs capping order for the judicial review. This means there is a limit to how much the losing side has to pay towards the other side’s legal costs.
WASPI said it was vital that they had this in place as otherwise they may have had to call off their legal claim, as they may not have been able to cover the DWP’s costs had they lost the case. Ms Madden said they will be asking the DWP’s lawyers and the court about how this will work should there be an out-of-court settlement, now that the DWP has withdrawn its decision.
What is the WASPI debate about?
WASPI is one of several campaign groups who represent women born in the 1950s who were impacted by their state pension age increasing from 60 to 65 and then 66. They claim that the DWP failed to properly inform them of the change, with many unaware right up to the last minute, ruining their retirement plans.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated the issue, concluding the DWP did make key mistakes and should have sent out letters to the women sooner. The group also recommended payouts from £1,000 to £2,950.
But the DWP announced at the end of last year there would be no payouts. Ministers made the case that most of the women did know of the change in their state pension age.
They also argued that sending out letters sooner would have made little difference. This is the decision that WASPI hopes to get overturned at the High Court.
In announcing the DWP would withdraw its decision, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: “As part of the legal proceedings challenging the Government’s decision, evidence has been cited about research findings from a 2007 report.
“That was a DWP evaluation of the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters. Had this report been provided to my right hon. Friend [former Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall], she would of course have considered it alongside all other relevant evidence and material.
“In the light of this, and in the interests of fairness and transparency, I have concluded that the Government should now consider this evidence. That means we will retake the decision made last December as it relates to the communications on state pension age.”
