Women hope for state pension justice as debate hits parliament

A House of Commons debate centres around the fact that 2.6 million women had their state pension age delayed without proper notice. As a result, many will face financial hardship

Actress Kim Cattrall is just one of the British women born in the 1950s hit by the changes (Getty Images)

Thursday’s parliamentary debate on the impact of the equalisation of the state pension age offers a glimmer of hope for women, says Aegon’s Kate Smith. “It would seem reasonable to allow women to take their state pension from the age they had expected, even if this comes at the cost of receiving a lower amount to compensate for earlier payment,” she said.

But Hargreaves Lansdown warned: “The question is whether the government will make any concessions, knowing that the cost could very quickly run into £billions, or stick to their guns and suffer the inevitable ill-feeling and negative publicity this would cause.”

Anger around the issue has been growing. Campaigning group WASPI set up an online petition to compensate women born in the 1950s who are facing a higher pension age than they expected. The strength of feeling is demonstrated by the fact that the number of signatures passed the 100,000 mark this week.

Women have been let down by the inadequate pensions system in this country and have borne the brunt of flawed policy making, reckons TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady. “We must not repeat the mistakes of the past,” she said. “The state pension age review should be overseen by an independent commission.”

Meanwhile Stephen Scholefield of Pinsent Masons, said: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of the change, there has been a clear failing over the last 20 years to explain the changes in a way that everyone understands. At a time when more responsibility for pension saving is being pushed onto individuals, it’s important that the Government plays its part and ensures that the state pension is properly understood by everyone."

Leading the debate in the House of Commons this afternoon will be SNP MP Mhairi Black, who said: “The pace of the changes in the pension age equalisation programme have placed an unfair burden on women.”

Background to the debate, from the House of Commons library

The Pensions Act 1995 provided for the State Pension age (SPA) for women to increase from 60 to 65 over the period April 2010 to 2020. The Coalition Government legislated in the Pensions Act 2011 to accelerate the latter part of this timetable, so that women’s SPA will now reach 65 in November 2018. The reason was increases in life expectancy since the timetable was last revised. It had initially intended that the equalised SPA would then rise to 66 by April 2020. However, because of concerns expressed about the impact on women born in March 1954 who would see their SPA increase by as much as two years as a result, it decided that this should happen over a longer period, with the SPA reaching 66 in October 2020.

Some women born in the 1950s argue they have been hit particularly hard, with significant changes to their SPA imposed with a lack of appropriate notification. However, the Government has said it will not revisit the 2011 Act timetable.