A pensions campaign group has  launched a crowdjustice appeal to fund a judicial review in the High Court against the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)’s handling of their case.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group is citing inconsistencies in his investigation into the Department for Work and Pension’s alleged failure to communicate changes to the state pension age.

The group aims to raise £100,000 in the first instance to challenge the Ombudsman’s decision-making. Since the fund was launched yesterday at 7pm, it has raised £13,000. The group says that if just 3% of the women affected donated £1, they would raise the required sum.

The Ombudsman’s investigation – launched in October 2018 – has been considering evidence from six sample cases of 1950s-born women affected by what they claim was a lack of notice from the DWP that their state pension age had risen from 60 to 65 (and later to 66).

In his first report in summer 2021, the Ombudsman found that there had been maladministration on the part of the DWP.

The WASPI group has taken legal advice from specialist barristers and lawyers and conclude that the Ombudsman is seriously mistaken about the injustice WASPI women have suffered.

It believes that the Ombudsman has taken a mistaken approach to injustice which could mean many women – perhaps hundreds of thousands – are receiving less compensation than they otherwise would.

Angela Madden, Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign chair, said: “Millions of women have been waiting years for justice and the latest findings from the Ombudsman have left us feeling insulted and ignored.

“Now we have to fight back so we are urging people to donate whatever they can to our legal fund. 

“The money is ringfenced for use to defend ourselves against the Ombudsman’s mistakes and put them right so his investigation can be concluded on a proper footing. Every penny will take us a step closer to justice for 1950s-born women.”