Two Scottish MPs have urged the UK Government not to make the same mistake with future State Pension age change communication that has been felt by millions of women born in the 1950s. Some 3.8 million women across Great Britain missed out on State Pension payments due to the change in retirement age from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and November 2018, which later increased to 66 for men and women in October 2020.
The 1995 Pensions Act increased the State Pension age for women from 60 to 65 in order to equalise the age with men, with the change to be phased in over 10 years from 2010 for women born between 1950 and 1955.
In July 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to communicate the changes with enough urgency, finding it guilty of maladministration, and is currently investigating the harm caused. The PHSO found that "the opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost”.
During a debate in the House of Commons around reports that the State Pension age will rise to 68 earlier than planned, the SNP’s Patricia Gibson urged the UK Government to give those women “the compensation that is their right”.
The North Ayrshire and Arran MP said: “It is bad enough that the State Pension age is due to rise again from 66 to 67 by 2028. It is even worse that the women born in the 1950s had their State Pension age increased with little or no notice, a move that has robbed them of tens of thousands of pounds of their hard-earned and expected State Pension, throwing many of them into deep poverty and unnecessary hardship.
“The Minister may say that no final decision has been taken, but how can anyone, having witnessed how women born in the 1950s have been treated, have any real faith that the Government understands how the increase in retirement age would have a disproportionate impact on those who have worked all their lives for poor pay?”
She continued: “Probably every one of us has spoken to women born in the 1950s, and when we do they tell us that the biggest UK Government swindle in recent memory was robbing their generation of their rightful State Pensions at the age of 60.
“Many discovered, often by sheer accident, that their anticipated pension would not arrive until years later, as there was equalisation with men. The anger, sense of betrayal and disappointment was only inflamed when UK Government Ministers bizarrely and insensitively insisted that this provided an opportunity for the women affected to train for new careers.”
Ms Gibson highlighted how as a result of this, some of them then formed the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign (WASPI), which continues to campaign for the injustice against them to be recognised and remedied.
She said: “They must be given the compensation that is their right and I applaud the work they have done, because those women faced delays of up to six years to access their State Pension, one in four of them now struggle to make payments on crucial bills and one third are in debt, with single women the worst affected.”
She urged that to avoid this happening again, that the UK Government carries out an assessment on accelerated future State Pension age change proposals.
She warned: “We must all learn from the huge injustice perpetrated on WASPI women - I applaud their campaign for justice - but we cannot permit even more people to be robbed of tens of thousands of pounds of their rightful State Pension as life expectancy stalls or even falls in Scotland.”
Lib Dem MP, Wendy Chamberlain also acknowledged the WASPI campaign for compensation.
The North East Fife MP said: “I have met many of the [WASPI] representatives who come to Parliament on fiscal event days. They often stand in the cold and damp waiting all day to be heard. I urge the Minister and Members across the House to meet them, if they have not done so previously.
“Although this debate is about the future, I cannot mention the WASPI women without talking about their ongoing right for compensation. They have been waiting years now, and thousands have died without ever seeing a penny.”
She continued: “The ombudsman is expected to report within a matter of months, but the only thing that has taken longer than their investigation is the Government’s inability to decide to do the right thing and to promise to follow the results of that report.
“The Government must learn lessons from what has happened to the WASPI women.”
She added: “If we are going to see changes, they must be communicated early and fully.
“People must be able to plan ahead. Age UK suggests 10 years as the length of time in which people need certainty to plan for retirement, I hope that the Government can continue to commit to that.”
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