The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group has been given the green light to take the Government to court over the decision to reject compensation over state pension age changes.
Waspi chair Angela Madden told The i Paper she was “very confident” they could win the case and push Labour into giving payments to 1950s-born women.
A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found the Department for Work Pensions (DWP) guilty of “maladministration” for failing to properly notify women of the age changes.
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Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the Government did not think that the £10.5bn bill would be “fair or proportionate to taxpayers”.
Setting out the rationale for its decision in December, the Government claimed that 90 per cent of Waspi women knew about state pension age changes – despite DWP failures to properly inform them.
The campaigners say that only around 200 women born in the 1950s were asked the questions from a total sample of 1,950 individuals.
“I’m very confident we can win,” said the Waspi chair, before adding: “It’s a David versus Goliath situation. The DWP has all the resources, all the money. They have done this [the pension age change] wrong, and they’re not prepared to properly admit it.”
Angela Madden, chair of the Waspi campaign (Photo: Victoria Jones/PA)What do legal experts think?
Jonathan Compton, partner at law firm DMH Stallard, previously told The i Paper: “I think the courts will be reluctant to intervene when such major sums are at stake.”
Jo Mackie, partner and employment law specialist at Burlingtons, said the Government’s claim 90 per cent of Waspi women knew “will be a difficult point to argue” because “it is subjective and open to interpretation”.
But she said the court was being asked to rule on a “narrow” issue of whether the Government’s decision-making had been reasonable, and would not have to consider wider political and financial implications.
“All the High Court can do is prove that the way the Government has made the decision is unlawful,” said Madden.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says compensation would not be ‘fair’ on taxpayers (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Battle over legal costs
One issue is whether the Waspi campaign will have to pay the Government’s legal costs if the campaign loses the case.
Uncertainty over costs means the Waspi campaign is continuing to ask supporters to help fund. The group has raised just over £208,000 so far, but is aiming to reach £230,000.
She added: “We are grateful for the funds raised so far and understand the country’s purse strings are tight, but the Government cannot be allowed to brush this injustice aside.”
“However, we do not agree with the ombudsman’s approach to injustice or remedy and that is why we have decided not to pay compensation.”
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