Women lose pensions appeal

Women living in Monklands who were born during the 1950s will be affected by a High Court ruling on state pension age.

Airdrie MP Gray has said the judgement on changes to the age women can claim state pension is “disappointing” but that the fight will continue.

His words came after a landmark legal battle brought to the High Court by campaign group Backto60 was defeated.

The case centred on the state pension age for women which was raised from the age of 60 to 66, to bring it in line with men’s.

Millions of women born in the 1950s are affected, and thousands of them in North Lanarkshire.

Although the decision to raise the age women became eligible was taken in 1995, many of those affected claim the changes were brought in too quickly.

However, judges Lord Justice Irwin and Mrs Justice Whipple rejected claims that the changes were unlawfully discriminatory to women affected on the basis of both age and sex.

Neil Gray MP is the SNP’s spokesperson for work and pensions.

He said: ”This ruling is disappointing, not just for my colleagues and I, but for the thousands of women who have been left short- changed by the UK Government’s policy.

“These women have been utterly failed, not just by this Tory UK Government, but previous governments involving Labour, Tories and the Lib Dems going back to the mid-1990s.

“It is time the UK Government finally recognised this injustice and did more to make up for the lack of time and information provided during the changes.

“While no one is against the equalisation of the state pension age, the way that this has been done with little or no notice has left far too many women working longer than they planned to in order to make ends meet.”

The court bid had been crowdfunded and the ruling is a devastating blow to Backto60 and fellow campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI).

The Airdrie MP urged the UK Government to financially compensate those women affected.

He added: “My colleague Mhairi Black has called on the Tory government to undertake a full impact assessment on how successive UK governments have disadvantaged WASPI women.

“Once this assessment has been completed, a payment acknowledging any disadvantage caused should be made to 1950s women without delay.

“British pensioners have the lowest state pension in the developed world and with the injustice for 1950s women, it’s clear that the UK Government cannot be trusted to deliver for our pensioners.”