A campaign criticising ‘unfair’ increases in the state pension age for women born in the 1950s has reached the 100,000 petition signatures needed for the matter to be debated in parliament.
Campaigners for women born in the 1950s argue they were not given adequate notice of two rises to their state pension age, which they say has left hundreds of thousands in financial hardship.
In 1995 the Tory government decided to raise women’s retirement age from 60 to 65, bringing it into line with men by 2020.
However, in 2011 the Coalition decided to bring the date forward to 2018. Then, for both men and women, there would be a further rise in state pension age to 66 over the next two years.
An online petition protesting against these changes was started by the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign.
It is calling for all women born on or after 6 April 1951 affected by the changes to the state pension age to be ‘put in exactly the same financial position they would have been’ in if they had been born on or before 5 April 1950.
A backbench debate led by Scottish National Party MP Mhairi Black had already been scheduled for 7 January, but passing the 100,000 signature mark means Waspi’s petition must be considered for a full parliamentary debate.
The campaign has also received partial support from the Labour party. Nick Thomas-Symonds, shadow pensions minister, told the FT he thought the argument “was stronger” on the 2011 Act than on the 1995 Act.
“I think the case is stronger for 2011 because of the promise to consider transitional provisions [made by Iain Duncan Smith] in 2011,” said Mr Thomas-Symonds, a former barrister. “We say they have never followed it through.”
Meanwhile, there is also hope after a court ruling in the Netherlands last month means the move to change the pension age may be illegal.
Campaigners have seized on a case in which the Dutch government was ordered to pay a widow her pension at 65, even though the retirement age had been raised to 67.
The court declared that a pension can be considered a possession, so deferring it could be seen to break the European Convention on Human Rights.
Anne Keen, co-founder of Waspi, said they would be consulting lawyers later this week. “We have evidence that women were not notified of the changes and have been left in a very poor position. We are in discussions with lawyers to determine our legal options,” she said.
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