WASPI campaigners have fought for years to get DWP compensation(Image: Getty)
The head of the WASPI campaign has warned ministers that support is stronger than ever and members are ready for a court showdown in the New Year.
Angela Madden, who chairs the Women Against State Pension Inequality group, said millions of 1950s-born women will not give up their fight for compensation. It comes as the Government reviews the controversial decision to reject payouts after new evidence came to light.
Angela, 71, said nothing short of a compensation scheme for over 3.5million women will suffice. She told The Mirror: “We will be ready again if we think the decision is unlawful. We’re quite willing to go to court again.”
Angela Madden has warned ministers that WASPI campaigners are ready for a court battle in 2026(Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
WASPI had been set for a court clash at the start of December demanding a judicial review – but legal action is on hold pending the outcome of the latest review. Angela said members are still furious over the decision not to award payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950 over a year ago. She estimates one affected woman dies every 13 minutes.
After agreeing to pay £180,000 in legal fees in an 11th hour agreement, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to announce its decision in February.
Angela said: “The government didn’t want to go to court because they knew their decision would have been found to be unlawful. We’re getting more and more suspicious that they have made their mind up and nothing is going to change.”
Failures at the DWP meant the decision to increase the state pension age for women was not properly communicated. The worst-affected were plunged into poverty after being unable to plan for the future as a result.
Angela – who retired just before she turned 55 to care for her seriously-ill mother – said that far from feeling deflated, support for the campaign is growing. “I think our Facebook followers have gone up to about 165,000, so we’ve had 35,000 extra followers sign up in the last few weeks,” she said. “And we do have a paid membership scheme, and that membership scheme has increased as well.
WASPI campaigners are ready for a New Year court showdown(Image: Getty)
“So it’s actually having the opposite effect. People are getting more involved and wanting to do their bit. And the crowd justice fundraiser, the target is £270,000 and we’ve actually exceeded that target. People are phoning up and saying, ‘do you still need money?’ So it shows that people are still behind us.”
In 2024 the Government apologised for a 28-month delay in sending letters informing affected women of the pension age change, but rejected any kind of financial payouts. This was despite the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) recommending MPs immediately set up a compensation scheme.
Angela said: “It just would not happen to a less vulnerable group of people than we are. They shouldn’t do this to their senior citizens. We did everything right for the whole of our working lives.
“We paid our taxes, we paid our National Insurance. The Government is now making a big thing about this fictitious generational divide. And we have many, many young people who support WASPI because they know in the twinkling of an eye, they’re going to be exactly where we are. And they don’t want to be treated as badly as we’ve been treated.”
Keir Starmer previously insisted that a compensation scheme costing £3.5billion to £10.5billion would not be a good use of taxpayers’ money. Angela said: “This isn’t something that the ombudsman made up, or something that we’ve made up. It is a reflection of what actually happened.
“It’s our lived experience, so we know what happened to us. Some of us have given up jobs that we wouldn’t have given up had we known our state pension age was going to be six years later. And some of us were divorced, and our divorce settlements were based on a state pension age of 60 – so the judiciary wasn’t even aware of the change to the law. There are many examples like that, but the department is just not willing to hear them.”
In November, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said a new document from 2007 had come to light which was not shown to his predecessor, Liz Kendall. As a result the decision not to award compensation has been placed under review.
However he told the Commons that retaking the decision would not automatically lead to compensation. “Retaking this decision should not be taken as an indication that Government will necessarily decide that it should award financial redress.”
The WASPI group said they have been told by the DWP that an outcome will be announced by February 24. In January a poll found three quarters (74%) think women should be “fairly compensated”. Another 78% think Keir Starmer has broken his word after he signed a pledge in opposition which read “I support fair and fast compensation for 1950s women”.