Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Campaign gathers pace
It was standing room only for a Coatbridge meeting addressing state pension changes impacting women born in the 1950s.
Women Against State Pension Inequality ( WASPI) arranged the event at Summerlee, raising awareness of their campaign for improved bridging arrangements for all those affected by the implementation and speed of a rise to the pension age.
More than 150 people attended the event to hear from campaigners and from crossparty politicians including Coatbridge parliamentarians Hugh Gaffney MP and Fulton MacGregor MSP – and now organisers want to ensure all affected women from across Monklands get involved.
WASPI Lanarkshire joint coordinator Anne Potter says the organisation understands there are around 8000 women affected in North Lanarkshire, who could lose out on up to £45,000 after the accelerated introduction of the new system through the pension acts of 1995 and 2011.
She told the Advertiser: “We’re trying to raise awareness among those who will have a delay of up to six years in receiving their state pension, and to get some transitional arrangements put in place.
“We don’t want to reverse the state pension age to 60, but very few women received any notice that there would be this change and delay, so we’d like some kind of arrangement to make up for the lack of information.
“Not everybody has a professional pension to rely on; a lot of women have nobody to support them and have absolutely nothing for a variety of reasons.
“We didn’t know how many to expect at Summerlee but the meeting was full to capacity, plus we had several MPs, MSPs and councillors – and all the women went away with template letters and ammunition to start on their complaints to the Department for Work and Pensions [DWP] about how they weren’t informed.
“It’s laborious and we have four templates to be completed so many women don’t know where to start, but we’re trying to prove that it was a piece of maladministration by the 1995 and 2011 governments.”
The Lanarkshire group’s next meeting takes place tomorrow at the GLO Centre in Motherwell, from 6pm to 8pm – and organisers want to attract more 1950s-born women from Monklands to attend and join the campaign.
Local politicians have again been invited to speak about their contribution to the campaign, while those attending can also receive advice on next steps and meet others who are similarly affected.
Those attending are asked to bring their National Insurance number and passport details in order to receive a state pension forecast and information on how to contact the DWP.
Anne added: “We’re hoping to attract people from all over North Lanarkshire as there’s quite a number of women who aren’t yet engaged with the campaign, either because they’re not aware of it or feel it’s not worthwhile.
“We’d tell them that it definitely is worthwhile – most local politicians are on board and supporting us, and even the Tory MPs are beginning to see the injustice. We’re definitely turning a corner.
“There are thousands of women across the UK taking part in the campaign and we want to reach all those affected by whatever means possible.”
For more details on the campaign, visit www.waspi.co.uk, email waspiglas73@gmail.com or find the Lanarkshire WASPI group on Facebook.