WORCESTER women born in the 1950s took to the city’s High Street to draw attention to the plight of women affected by the increase in the state pension age.
Labour women members’ protest took place to coincide with a Parliamentary debate on the issue and in support of the London protest organised by Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
When the decision was taken in 1995 to raise the state pension age for women to 65, gradual transitional arrangements were put in place to allow the 3.5 million affected nationally to make plans to extend their working life or take up private pensions to cover the shortfall.
But in 2011 the Conservative-led coalition Government changed the rules to speed up the transition and also extended the retirement age for women and men to 67.
As a result, most women born in the 1950s are losing up to six years worth of state pension.
The campaign group agrees with pension equalisation, but does not agree with the unfair way the changes were implemented – with faster than promised increases in the 2011 Pension Act and no time to make alternative plans.
According to Labour, hundreds of thousands of working women have been affected by this, with most set to lose more than £10,000 each.
Retired teacher Sian Tallett, 63, from Battenhall, welcomed Labour’s pledge to compensate those affected.
“I wrote to Robin Walker on this issue at the time and received an unsigned pro-forma about ‘we’re all in this together’.
“On complaining about this I eventually received a personal reply which revealed no understanding at all from Mr Walker about the financial impact on working women who had little time to make provision for this cut.”
Coun Joy Squires, who led the High Street protest, said “We estimate that the Tory-led 2011 changes to women’s state pensions retirement ages, voted for by Robin Walker, may affect well over 1,000 women in Worcester.
“These changes were neither in the 2010 Conservative manifesto nor the coalition agreement.
“We’re proud Labour have pledged to make fair arrangements for the working women of Worcester who are losing out to these unexpected cuts.”
Visit www.waspi.co.uk for more information on the WASPI campaign.
