LABOUR candidate Joy Squires has lent her support to a campaign which aims to compensate women who are facing a longer wait for their pensions.
Coun Squires met a group of women affected by the 2011 changes to the state pension age which particularly hit women born in the 1950s.
Many of the women are signed up to the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign.
At the meeting, Joy signed the WASPI pledge to take the campaign to Parliament to achieve justice for the 1950s generation of women.
In their manifesto, the Labour Party have pledged to compensate hundreds of thousands of women across the UK who are having to wait longer for their State Pension – all thanks to the changes made by the Tory led government back in 2011.
Labour have promised to use the Pension Credit system and transitional protections as part of their commitment to put women affected by these unexpected changes back in the position they would have been before these cuts were proposed.
Retired teacher, Sian Tallett, 62, from Battenhall spoke at the meeting and said: “I’m delighted that Labour are willing to do something about this.
“I’ve so many friends who are in the same position as me; women who worked hard for many years and then had part of their pensions snatched away by the Tories and Lib Dems six years ago.
“I wrote to Robin Walker about this at the time but just received an unsigned pro-forma along the lines of ‘We’re all in this together’.
“Only after complaining did I eventually receive a personal reply from Mr Walker himself which revealed he had little understanding about the financial impact this cut was having on working women who’d had insufficient time to make any provisions for it.”
WASPI estimate hundreds of thousands of women have been affected by the 2011 ruling, with many set to lose over £10,000 each.
While the group agrees with pension age equality, it slammed the way the changes were implemented.
The increases were faster than promised in 1995, no time was given to make alternative plans, and many retirement plans were shattered as a result – some with devastating consequences, according to the group.
Coun Squires, said: “We estimate that the Tory led 2011 changes to state pensions retirement ages for women, as voted for by Robin Walker, may have affected over 1,000 women in Worcester. “These changes were neither in the 2010 Conservative manifesto nor the coalition agreement.
“I’m proud that Labour have pledged to make fair arrangements for very many Worcester women who are losing out to these unexpected cuts,” she added.
Visit www.waspi.co.uk for more information about WASPI
