The official WASPI account has shared a stern three-word warning to the Labour party, urging them to “do better.” In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the @NorfolkWaspi account, they cautioned: “#WASPI women have said to @UKLabour do better #fairness #justice #notgoingaway and we’ve paid enough for equalisation. 0ver £90,000 raised in under 24 hours to say ‘yes, we matter’.”
WASPI, which stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality, is a UK-based voluntary organisation founded in 2015 that advocates for a fair state pension. Historically, women were eligible for a pension five years earlier than men, but the group now seeks compensation for those affected, citing the government’s failure to provide adequate notice of the changes.
This warning comes as campaigners threaten the government with potential legal action unless it reconsiders its decision to deny compensation to millions of women impacted by the rise in the state pension age. The campaign group is demanding payouts for 3.6 million women born in the 1950s who were not informed of changes first introduced in the 1990s.
The government apologised that the changes were not communicated quickly enough. However they told the BBC it “cannot justify paying for a £10.5bn compensation scheme at the expense of the taxpayer”.
WASPI chair Angela Madden said: “We believe this is not only an outrage but legally wrong.” A “letter before action” has been sent to the government, allowing it a chance to respond before the campaigners seek a judicial review at the High Court in two weeks’ time.
If the group receives approval, the Work and Pensions Secretary’s claim that no direct financial loss occurred could be scrutinised in court.
Madden highlighted: “The government has accepted that 1950s-born women are victims of maladministration, but it now says none of us suffered any injustice.” With no compensation forthcoming, she added: “The alternative is continued defence of the indefensible but this time in front of a judge.”
Now, the group writes: “The only way forward now is to ask the High Court for a Judicial Review of the second report. If the Court agrees with us and our legal team that the Ombudsman has made errors, his decisions on the injustice WASPI women suffered will have to be made again, lawfully.”
“The only way we can challenge the Ombudsman’s decision is by a Judicial Review. Legal action of this kind is not cheap – we need to protect ourselves against the risk of having to pay the Ombudsman’s costs as well as paying our own lawyers. We will be challenging a public authority with much greater resources than any of us have individually.”
If the campaigners succeed in their case, the government could face an estimated cost of up to £10.5 billion. However, amid sluggish economic growth and rising borrowing costs, the Prime Minister has stated “the taxpayer simply can’t afford the burden” of compensation.
