Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, joined almost ninety of her Parliamentary colleagues in the House of Commons yesterday evening to formally present a paper petition launched by the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign.
Changes introduced by legislation in 1995, and then accelerated in 2011, mean that millions of women born after 6th April 1950 – who had previously expected to retire at age 60 – will not be entitled to receive their State Pension until between the ages of 63 and 66. Some women have been affected by both changes, seeing their State Pension age increased twice – with many women having received little, or even no, notification of either increase from the Government. According to the independent House of Commons Library, around 4,000 women are directly affected by the 2011 legislation in Newcastle North alone.
Catherine has campaigned extensively on this issue, having voted against the 2011 Pensions Act because of the disproportionate impact of the changes on this group of women. The Newcastle North MP has also become a Vice Chair of the recently-established All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the WASPI campaign.
The WASPI campaign works to lobby the Government to introduce transitional arrangements for the women affected, many of whom took early retirement – often due to ill health, or because of increased caring responsibilities – in anticipation of reaching State Pension age at 60, and have been left without any income, in some cases until the age of 66.
The WASPI petition, which has been signed by thousands of people across the country and was presented en masse yesterday, states that:
‘as a result of the way in which the 1995 Pension Act and the 2011 Pension Act were implemented, women born in the 1950s (on or after 6 April 1951) have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the State Pension Age; further that hundreds of thousands of women have had significant changes imposed on them with little or no personal notice; further that implementation took place faster than promised; further that this gave no time to make alternative pension plans; and further that retirement plans have been shattered with devastating consequences.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to make fair transitional arrangements for all women born in the 1950s (on or after 6 April 1951) who have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the State Pension Age.’
Several MPs, including Catherine, presented petitions on behalf of more than one constituency yesterday evening.
Commenting afterwards, Catherine said:
‘The Government is very sadly mistaken if they think the WASPI women are going to give up, or go away. They are not going anywhere – and yesterday’s presentation by so many MPs, from all parties, was yet another powerful reminder that neither are we.
‘The Prime Minister has talked about tackling burning injustice. Well, she has an opportunity to do so by providing this group of women the fair transitional arrangements they were promised in 2011. The WASPI campaign and APPG won’t stop fighting until she does.
‘I would like to thank all of my constituents who collected signatures for this petition – and I’m particularly grateful to Pat Ormston and Christine Smith – founder members of the Tyne, Wear & Tees WASPI group – for their tireless efforts in collecting signatures from across the region.’