Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell, challenged Work and Pensions Ministers in the Commons this afternoon on the discriminatory impact of the Coalition’s new state pension.

Around 430,000 women born between April 1952 and July 1953 will retire before 2017 and will therefore not be eligible for the new single tier state pension. They will draw the basic weekly pension of £107.45 (in today’s prices) on retirement. However, men born in the same period are due to retire in 2017, and so will be eligible for the new single-tier rate. This could mean these women drawing a state pension income of around £1,900 a year (£36.55 a week) less than a man of the same age.

Catherine said:

“Around 1,700 women across Newcastle, born between April 1952 and July 1953, will miss out on the new state pension – yet men of the same age will be entitled to receive it.

“These are the very same women whom the Government penalised in 2011 by raising their pension age, forcing them to change their retirement plans and make significant changes to their finances – and all at very short notice.   

“These women have worked hard throughout their lives, juggling work with raising a family and often in pretty modestly paid roles. Once again, they will be left feeling betrayed by this Government.”