{"id":207638,"date":"2025-06-23T12:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T12:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/207638\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T12:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T12:29:09","slug":"waspi-hails-major-breakthrough-in-fight-against-uk-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/207638\/","title":{"rendered":"Waspi hails ‘major breakthrough’ in fight against UK Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has agreed to a costs capping order after what Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality<\/a>] describes as “months of resistance”.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Waspi group said it would have faced a real risk “of financial ruin” had this order not been agreed.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Without the costs cap, Waspi\u00a0would be liable for paying the UK Government\u2019s legal fees \u2013 which would be in the hundreds of thousands \u2013 should it lose its\u00a0case.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE:\u00a0David Lammy refuses to say if US Iran strikes were illegal<\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n The agreement limits Waspi\u2019s liability for Government legal costs to \u00a360,000, and caps the Government\u2019s liability for Waspi\u2019s legal costs at \u00a390,000.\n<\/p>\n

\n The campaign group has welcomed the breakthrough as a \u201cmajor milestone\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n The Waspi group is seeking a judicial review to force the Government to reconsider its decision<\/a> to rule out a compensation package for women affected by the way changes to the state pension age were communicated.\n<\/p>\n

\n Angela Madden, chair of Waspi,\u00a0said: “This agreement \u2013 fully approved by the court \u2013 is a vital step forward in our legal campaign. Without this safeguard, we faced a real risk of financial ruin \u2013 of effectively being silenced by the threat of Government legal bills running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: Jordan Pettitt) \u201cWe now have the certainty we need to press on \u2013 but the costs of fighting this case remain very real. Our expert legal team is showing they can and do win victories against the government but it takes time and forensic presentation of our evidence \u2013 and that costs money.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is the fight of our lives \u2013 and we can\u2019t win it without public support.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Earlier this month, senior High Court judge Mr Justice Swift,\u00a0ruled that the case is \u201carguable\u201d and \u201cought to be considered at a final hearing\u201d, meaning ministers could be ordered to re-think their position on compensation if Waspi wins in court.\n<\/p>\n

\n A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PSHO) suggested compensation ranging between \u00a31000 and \u00a32950<\/a>\u00a0could be appropriate for each of the women affected.\n<\/p>\n

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\n But in December 2024, the Government said that, while it accepted the ombudsman\u2019s finding of maladministration and apologised for there being a delay in writing to 1950s-born women,\u00a0a blanket compensation scheme, which could cost taxpayers up to \u00a310.5 billion, cannot be justified<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Lawyers for the campaigners argue that the Government\u2019s reasons for concluding that people should not receive any remedy are a breach of legal principles.\n<\/p>\n

\n The campaign is continuing\u00a0to ask supporters to contribute to its legal fighting fund<\/a> as preparations begin for a full hearing later this year.\n<\/p>\n

\n The group\u00a0raised enough to cover not only the capped Government costs, but those of the legal team fighting the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has agreed to a costs capping order after what Waspi [Women…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,2499,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-207638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114732686471993411","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}