Women Against State Pension Inequality has renewed an offer to the government to use alternative dispute resolution instead of going to court. Campaigners are also urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to talk to them. 

Waspi is in a long-running disagreement with the Department for Work and Pensions over the department's refusal to compensate women who received letters about their increased state pension age 28 months too late and has launched a claim for judicial review. 

However, on Monday the campaign group said it has renewed its ADR offer, asking the government to follow its own advice to people to settle disputes out of court. 

“We hope the new government will take the opportunity to work with us to develop a pragmatic resolution that brings this long-running injustice to an end," said Waspi chair Angela Madden. “Waspi has made an offer of alternative dispute resolution because we believe there is a route to resolving this issue without the need for further costly and lengthy legal proceedings. To date, these requests have not been accepted, and so we have been left with no choice but to seek a High Court judicial review.”  

She added: “With the prime minister recognising the injustices faced by Waspi women, there is now a fresh opportunity for meaningful discussions about what a fair solution looks like. We stand ready to engage constructively with Andy and his team to achieve that.” 

A DWP spokesperson said: “The secretary of state set out the government’s position in his oral statement to parliament, including acceptance of maladministration and apology to the women affected.”

 

In late 2024, the government promised an action plan to learn lessons from the communications fiasco. Civil servants paused the plan last year ahead of a fresh decision by the work and pensions secretary, with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman criticising this hiatus. 

 

The plan was eventually published in June this year. Waspi described it as "deeply disappointing", noting that it includes sending letters to people ahead of their state pension age of 67. The DWP previously claimed that letters would not be read anyway in an attempt to justify the decision not to compensate 1950s-born women for not contacting them sooner.