Our History
WASPI was started in 2015 by a group of women who found they would not be retiring at 60 as they had expected to. They began with a Facebook page, and other women in the same position soon joined them. The intention was to challenge the lack of notice.
The Government changed the law in 1995 to increase the State Pension age (SPa) for women to 65, and in 2011 to increase the SPa for men and women to 66. There was no legal challenge to be had about the increase itself.
Very quickly it became evident that because it was the Government who had raised the State Pension age, it was in Westminster where we needed to make progress. WASPI has always campaigned cross party and continue to do so today.
WASPI has argued that the lack of notice had a detrimental effect on the retirement plans of 1950s born women. It left them them with little time to make alternative arrangements.
Thousands of women wrote letters of complaint to the DWP regarding the lack of notice they received. Ultimately their complaints ended with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. After a six-year investigation of six sample cases, in March 2024 the Ombudsman concluded that there had been maladministration. That maladministration had denied WASPI women the opportunity to make informed choices.
Since the campaign started there have been:
- Scores of Parliamentary debates
- Four Private Members Bills
- Over 200 Parliamentary petitions
- Three appearances before a Select Committee
- Three demonstrations in Westminster
- Three Crowdjustice appeals raising over £350,000
We’ve seen off nine Pensions Ministers and five Prime Ministers, navigated the COVID years and are now tackling gaslighting from the Government.