‘Join the WASPI women’
Anne’s plea to others
A Burnside woman is encouraging others in the area to get involved in the campaign against changes to the pension system.
Anne Potter is in the Lanarkshire branch of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group.
She has previously travelled down to London for the fight, and now wants to see more residents getting involved.
The branch will host a drop-in event tomorrow, February 1, in Motherwell for people interested in getting involved.
Anne reckons women born in the 1950s could lose out by up to £45,000 because of the changes, which go back to the Pensions Act in 1995.
This included plans to raise the women’s state pension age to 65, the same as men.
The state pension age has now increased to 66 and the 2011 Pensions Act brought the timetable for the plans forward, meaning the state pension age is set to reach 65 for women by November 2018 and 66 by 2020.
Women born on or after April 6, 1951, face having to wait longer than expected to draw their state pension.
Anne said over 5,000 women in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency could be affected.
She added: “Many are not aware of WASPI and the help we offer in showing them the recommended process of sending in their personal complaints to Department of Work and Penions.
“Apart from individually losing out on up to £45,000 due to state pension delays of up to six years, their families and local economy could be affected.”
The event will take place at the GLO Centre on Muir Street from 6-8pm.