Women in demand for justice over pensions

ONE hundred and fifty women who claim they have been cheated out of a comfortable retirement after a lifetime of work are heading from Wales to London today.

When Chancellor Philip Hammond is on his feet in the Commons delivering the budget they will be among a hoped-for crowd of 16,000 chanting outside, all part of the UK-wide Waspi movement for pension justice.

The group – whose name stands for Women Against State Pension Inequality – represent women born in the 1950s whose State Pension Age (SPA) has been increased as part of the programme to equalise it with the men’s SPA of 65.

The group has long said that women subject to the change had little or no notice of it from the Government, so they are now turning 60 only to be informed their state pension has been delayed for two or three years.

Waspi is campaigning for those women affected to receive a bridging pension until they reach their revised SPA and also to receive compensation.

Jocelyn Morgan, 64, a retired ward sister from Cefn Glas in Bridgend, will be on the coach leaving from Bridgend, which has been sponsored by members of Bridgend council. Other coaches are leaving from Swansea and Cardiff.

When she turned 60 she was told she would be unable to claim her state pension until she was 63 which left her in severe financial difficulty.

Even though she is now in receipt of her state pension, she is continuing her fight and is among the Waspi members whose claims for maladministration against the Department for Work and Pensions are being pursued by London law firm Bindmans.

“People are still only just finding out they are not having their pension,” said Jocelyn. “People who thought they were going to retire in May have now got to wait another two years. As a result they are being forced to look for part-time work but those jobs aren’t out there. People don’t want a 63-yearold working for them. Besides, we have done our bit. This is not a benefit. People have made 35 to 40 years of contributions.”

Speakers including SNP MP Mhairi Black, lawyer and journalist Peter Stefanovic and Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, are all due to address the Waspi demonstration.

A DWP spokesman said: “The decision to equalise the State Pension Age between men and women was made over 20 years ago and achieves a longoverdue move towards gender equality. There are no plans to change the transitional arrangements already in place.

“Women retiring today can still expect to receive the State Pension for 26 years on average – several years longer than men.”