Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, has hit out today at the Coalition’s unfair changes to the stage pension age, which will affect around 1,100 women in her constituency.
The Government’s plans to accelerate increases to the state pension age mean that 500,000 women across the country will have to wait more than a year longer before receiving the state pension. 300,000 women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 October 1954 will have to wait an extra 18 months, and an unlucky 33,000 born between 6 March 1954 and 5 April 1954 will have to wait an extra 2 years, before being entitled to receive their state pension.
Speaking on the day that Age UK held a mass lobby of Parliament on the issue, Catherine condemned the Government’s plans as unfair and stated that many women aged 56 and 57 will be left feeling robbed.
Catherine said:
“The Government’s plans to increase the state pension age disproportionately affect women, and around 1,100 women in Newcastle North are going to be made to wait up to two years longer to receive their state pension.
“Many of these women have already contacted me to express their anger and betrayal at this decision, feeling they have had the rug pulled from under them by a proposal that wasn’t even in the Coalition document just a year ago.
“Most of these women are already well underway with their retirement plans, and will now be forced to make significant changes to their finances, with just 5 years notice before the changes kick in.
“This policy is totally unfair, leaves thousands of women feeling understandably robbed, and I will fight these changes every step of the way. Many of the women affected have worked hard throughout their lives, juggling work with raising a family, whilst often in pretty modestly paid roles. It is simply unacceptable for them to be treated in this way.”