Argyll women donate to legal battle against Ombudsman
Argyll women against state pension inequality are among 4,000 people across the UK who donated £70,000 in just a week to fund a Crowdjustice appeal.
The campaign has now exceeded the £75,000 mark, reaching three-quarters of the target needed to start legal action against the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners are claiming the Parliamentary Ombudsman (PO) failed “to follow due process” while investigating the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over failures to communicate changes to the state pension age.
They say the impact was that millions of 1950s-born women were affected by a lack of notice in the rise from 60 to 65, and later 66, plunging tens of thousands of them into poverty. There are 6,700 WASPI women in Argyll and Bute.
Ann Greer, co-founder of WASPI Argyll and Isles, said: “Women can ill-afford donations to fund court action. Campaigners feel that the Parliamentary Ombudsman has left them no choice, having made plainly irrational decisions.”
WASPI has published a 12page ‘‘letter before action’’ for the first time, setting out its legal arguments in detail.
Testimonies from affected women on the Crowdjustice site speak of being an ‘‘easy target’’ with others arguing the DWP should be ‘‘made accountable for the mistakes they have made’’ given that many of the women affected are no longer alive.
It is estimated that more than 150,000 WASPI women have died across the UK since the Parliamentary Ombudsman started its investigation in October 2018.
Ann added: “Thousands of 1950s-born women across Argyll and Bute have been badly let down by DWP failures and the flaws in the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report. This has resulted in women in our group welcoming WASPI’s Judicial Review. Many women in our area had their retirement plans wrecked by the lack of notice around changes to their State Pension age.
“Legal action sends a message to both the Ombudsman and the Government that women will continue to challenge them. On top of this, all of us are having to cope with escalating food prices and many are within the estimated 27 per cent across the country who have struggled to pay energy bills this winter.”
Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) national campaign chairperson Angela Madden added: “The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s draft report is a catalogue of errors, which has left WASPI women furious.
“By definition, this group of women is not well-off, having been so badly failed by the system.” To find out more about the campaign go to https:// www.waspi.co.uk.