Anne fights back over pension change sting
WASPI group set up
A Burnside woman has set up a group for local women set to lose thousands of pounds in what they call unfair pension changes.
Anne Potter has launched a Lanarkshire branch of Women Against State Pension Inequality ( WASPI), a group fighting government plans to increase the state pension age to 66 by 2020.
A UK-wide group, WASPI was set up in response to UK legislation accelerating the timetable for pension change by two years. It means the state pension age will reach 65 for women by November 2018 and 66 by 2020.
The second change to female pensions in 15 years, the Pensions Act in 1995 included plans to raise the women’s state pension age to 65, the same as men, before the state pension age was then increased to 66.
Anne, 61, has now established WASPI Glasgow and Lanarkshire to help fight the changes affecting women born on or after April 1951.
She said: “At the moment we’ve got a Facebook page and we’ve got plenty of members signed up already. The idea was just to have people from Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Lanarkshire but we’ve had some people from farther afield get in touch too.
“It’s really just local women that we’re hoping to have join up now, who might want to do what they can to help.”
Explaining women were becoming more aware of how the changes to pensions would affect them, Anne said: “People are passing on the information to each other and they want to do something to assist the cause.
“There are plans for a big demonstration in London on Wednesday June 29 and we’re looking at sending someone down to it so I’m coordinating the travel for those who are definitely going.”
For more information on the group email Anne at waspiglas73@ gmail.com