BACK in the summer WASPI, a group of women fighting against state pension inequality, staged a demonstration at Westminster in London to address the injustice of state pension age changes – now they are back and ready to draw up a stir as they prepare for another London march.

The group, which stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality, was started by women who thought they were due to retire at 60, but have now found out that they will have to wait a further six years in some cases.

Members’ main aim is to achieve fair transitional pension arrangements for women born in the 1950s (on or after April 6, 1951). This translates into a bridging pension, to provide an income from age 60 until state pension age.

WASPI has more than 140 groups active throughout the UK and one in Europe, with members from Farnham and the surrounding areas.

In what has been named as one of the fastest growing CrowdJustice appeals, the WASPI campaign has raised £100,000 for its legal action against the government, raising £50,000 within the first 24-hours alone. Top London law firm, Bindmans, will be representing WASPI in its legal challenge.

Farnham member Jackie Boyce said: “There’s loads of causes but what makes ours so special is that we are fighting for our retirement.

“They are messing about with the pensions, it’s not just women, it’s men as well and the next generation.

“We are trying to raise awareness because people still don’t know, women are saying ‘well I’m going to retire in a couple of months’, and then they find out that they can’t – it’s just awful.”

The campaign now plans to use the funding to pursue one or more legal challenges to the government. WASPI’s lawyers have identified two potential means of legal redress for women affected by the changes to the state pension age:

• a judicial review challenge (or challenges) to the legality of the changes themselves;

• maladministration complaints regarding the wholly inadequate engagement undertaken by the Department of Work and Pensions regarding these changes.

Alongside its legal campaign, WASPI continues to engage with politicians from all parties.

Yvonne Robinson, who works in Farnham, said: “We are very passionate about this cause. There are real people in real poverty because the government did not give us any notice of the pension changes.

“I might only be here for the next five years, so I would have missed out on all that money that I would have got.

“My daughter-in-law basically said ‘they just want us to push the babies out and get back to work’. So it’s like, don’t spend any time with them, don’t bring them up yourself, put them in a nursery so you can get back to work to get your pension. It is just madness and not fair to women.

“WASPI are organising another London demo outside Parliament. It is to be on budget day in March (date to be announced).

“WASPI numbers have increased dramatically since the last one so we will be expecting a huge turnout of very angry ladies with our banners and chants.”

For more information go to www.waspi.co.uk.