State Retirement Pensions: Women
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government considered the potential merits of a cost capping order in the latest legal action brought by the WASPI campaign.
Answered by Torsten Bell
On 29 January 2026, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced the Government’s new response to the Ombudsman’s investigation, he apologised for the delay in sending out letters and committed to learning lessons from this.
However, he concluded it would not be appropriate to pay compensation, we have set out in our detailed response the reasons for this which can be found in the House Library.
WASPI Ltd have now commenced Judicial Review proceedings and indicated that they will seek a Cost Capping Order. As with any request received for a Cost Capping Order, the Government will review the terms of the request and will respond when it has fully considered the matter.
The Courts decide on cost capping orders if they give permission to allow a judicial review to proceed to a substantive hearing. The Court has not yet made its permission decision.
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