The Backto60 campaign, which represents women born in the 1950s and affected by state pension age equalisation, has been granted permission to appeal on all grounds by the High Court.

The campaign lodged its application with the High Court in October 2019, seeking to appeal the decision that ruled rises to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s were not discriminatory.

Commenting on the judgement, Backto60 founder and director, Joanne Welch, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been granted leave on all grounds to appeal.

“We are also delighted to have learned that the government has agreed to nominating a UK CEDAW representative: we are campaigning to ensure that a nomination is in place by the 6th March deadline.

“The CEDAW Committee, Geneva, is considering our Amicus Brief which describes how 3.8 million women have been discriminated against: they are delighted that after 40 years, a U.K. rep will be put in place.”

The concerns raised by the Backto60 campaign were bought to the fore during the December 2019 election, after Labour published plans to provide pay-outs of up to £31,000 to those affected in its manifesto.

The conservative party did not address the issues within their manifesto, despite promises in July 2019 from party leader, Boris Johnson, to address the historical issues.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has now also confirmed that it will be resuming its investigation into a sample of six complaints relating to the communication of changes to women’s state pension age, after “carefully considering the High Court ruling”.

The sample of six complaints “cover all the issues complained about” according to the ombudsman, who also confirmed that any recommendations for compensation would be recommended for “everyone who has been similarly affected by any failings”.

Whilst the ombudsman confirmed that the recent high court decision has “made clear that [it cannot] recommend DWP reimburse ‘lost’ pensions”, or recommend that the state pension is received earlier than the law allows, it can make recommendations which might include compensation.

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