WASPI campaigners (Women Against State Pension Inequality) are expecting a long wait until their latest legal challenge to the DWP reaches the courts.

Campaign chair, Angela Madden, said it could take 14 months for their case to get a final decision from a high court judge, as they prepare a judicial review to challenge the Goverment’s decision not to grant compensation to the WASPI generation of women.

The 1950s-born women were affected when their state pension age went up from 60 to 65 and then 66. They claim many of them did not know of the change, and that the DWP did not take the proper steps to inform them.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) previously ruled there was ‘maladministration’ in how the DWP communicated the change, with the Ombudsman recommending payouts for the women of up to £2,950.

But the Labour Government said at the end of last year that there would be no compensation scheme, arguing most women knew of the change and that providing payouts would be a poor use of public funds.

The campaigners are now seeking to challenge that Government decision, and are preparing to file a judicial review at the high court for the decision to be overruled.

The WASPI campaign was previously successful in a judicial review it filed challenging a PHSO report into their case, arguing the scope of its findings was too narrow.

Looking at the time it took for that previous review to go through, Ms Madden said it could be 14 months for this one to be completed.

She warned: “It’s not a quick process.” Explaining the work involved, the campaign chair said: “It will be peaks of work, there’s been quite a peak to get us to this stage, we are ready almost to file the papers.

“There’s a lot of work that’s gone into that. Then there will be a bit of a lull, where we won’t hear anything for a few weeks. Then we’ll hear that it’s been put in front of a judge to consider, and then we’ll know whether we’ve got permission to proceed or not. Then there’ll be another long wait until a court date comes up.”

A fundraiser for the legal effort has reached more than £148,000 in support, after smashing an initial target of £75,000 within a day of being set up.

Ms Madden expressed her thanks to all those who have donated, saying: “It shows there’s a huge amount of support.”

The WASPI legal team are applying for a costs capping order, to limit the amount of costs that have to be paid during a legal dispute. The fundraiser now has a target of £180,000.

When the WASPI group announced its plans for the new judicial review, it wrote to the DWP outlining its cases, and urging a response by March 10. Lawyers representing the DWP sent a response at the last minute to this request, but the details of this response have not been made public.

A Government spokesperson said: “We do not comment on live litigation. We accept the Ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and have apologised for there being a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women.