A group of women campaigning for compensation after their State Pension Age was increased has received unanimous backing from Caerphilly County Borough Council.
Women across the country have been affected by UK Government legislation changes to the State Pension Age, and Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) are campaigning against the “unfair” way the changes were brought in – including a lack of appropriate notice.
WASPI was set up by five women in April 2015 to spread awareness of the impact that changes to the State Pension Age had on those born on or after April 6, 1951.
Legislation to raise the retirement age of women to 65, in line with men, by 2020 was passed in the Pensions Act of 1995, but was accelerated by the coalition government in 2011, meaning that many women were left with only 18 months’ notice of the changes.
A Freedom of Information request by WASPI revealed that the Department of Work and Pensions did not start writing letters to affected women until 2009.
Sue Jarman, from Caerphilly, is a member of WASPI, and said: “When the UK Government says they gave this information out to the public, we were all bringing up children and pensions were probably at the back of our head.
“When they introduced the Act they didn’t look at the impact it would have. They were supposed to, but it’s been documented that there were reservations from a lot of MPs at the time.”
WASPI groups around the country descended on Westminster in their thousands on Wednesday, June 29 to coincide with the 107th anniversary of the Suffragettes march on Parliament.
WASPI say they don not object to the increase in the State Pension Age, but are campaigning for fair transitional compensation to help protect affected women against financial hardship.
At a full meeting of Caerphilly County Borough Council on Tuesday July 19, Cllr Liz Aldworth, representing Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen ward, put forward a motion to call upon the UK Government to make transitional state pension arrangements for women who “have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the State Pension Age with lack of appropriate notification” which was unanimously agreed upon.
In June, Caerphilly AM Hefin David raised the issue in the Welsh Assembly with Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Mark Drakeford.
Dr David said: “This legislation has left tens of thousands of women born after April 6, 1951 out of pocket. The official figure I’ve seen is £12,000, although constituents tell me it was up to £38,000 that they would personally lose. Will you join my constituents and agree to continue to campaign and call directly on the UK Government to introduce fair arrangements?”
Responding, Mark Drakeford AM said “The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee said that more could and should have been done to provide those affected with proper information. That’s absolutely the position of this government, and it’s one we’ll continue to press on their behalf”.