Women in their 50s and 60s wearing purple sashes have been getting a lot of attention on television and in the press recently.
They represent WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), and are campaigning about the way in which changes to their State Pension Age have been made, creating real hardship for many women.
WASPI was started in 2015 by five women who have been affected by these changes. WASPI understand that there are valid economic reasons for the change. Their anger is at the failure to give them proper notice of the changes. Here, Jane Cowley, the communications director of WASPI explains their campaign.
“We are real women, with real lives who have had our retirement plans derailed by the raising of the age at which we can receive our State Pension.
“Our campaign has 73,000 supporters, with 150 local groups nationwide representing the 3.8 million women who were born in the 1950s are suffering because, instead of retiring at 60, they now have to wait for up to an extra six years to receive their pension. Their particular grievance is over the failure to notify them of the raising of their State Pension Age – in many cases women received as little as a year’s notice of the change.
“Many of us have never campaigned before or been active in politics but we have been brought together by the impact these changes have had on our retirement plans – which impacts on our income, our independence and our family.
“We are the generation of women who mainly left school at 15. We grew up just as workplace equality for women began, but we have not had the same opportunities as men and have had to struggle along with a gender pay-gap which stubbornly remains at 18%.
“You may have seen media coverage of the recent report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies on raising the female State Pension Age. This highlighted the devastating consequences of the Government’s pension reforms on many ordinary women. The harsh reality of the changes is something that WASPI women have experienced for some time.
“ ‘Jenny,’ is a good example of why our campaign is so vital. Born in 1955, Jenny started work at 15 and worked until the age of 61, when ill health forced her to stop working. When she realised that her State Pension Age had been changed and there would be a major delay before she could receive her pension, she tried to find alternative work but could not find any. After 35 years paying National Insurance Contributions Jenny should be financially independent but is now dependent on her husband.
“Since the start of the campaign, WASPI has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the plight of the women we represent and to convince the Government to reconsider its position. To do this, we have organised rallies, written petitions, met Members of Parliament and Parliamentary candidates. We’ve also raised £100,000 to fund a legal campaign, to bring maladministration complaints against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
“During this year’s general election, our members sought to secure the support of their parliamentary candidates, 196 of whom are now in parliament. We have very recently heard that a cross-party group of MPs could introduce a bill in parliament aimed at forcing the government to review the current pension arrangements for women born in the 1950s and we are eagerly awaiting the details.
“If you have been affected by the State Pension Age changes and would like to support our campaign, we would be delighted to hear from you. There are lots of ways you can support the campaign; you can become a member, write a letter of complaint to the Department of Work and Pensions and get in touch with your local WASPI coordinator to see what campaigning activity they have planned.
“To stay up to date with the campaign please follow us on Twitter or visit our Facebook page.”
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