Campaigners from Waspi East Kent were among hundreds of purple-clad 1950s women who flocked to London on International Women’s Day (March 8) to highlight their campaign for pension justice.
They joined a rally in Parliament Square organised by 1950s Women United to remind politicians of the fight for compensation which campaigners say is due because of the lack of notice of the increase in their state pension age from 60 to 65. This has since been increased to 66 for both men and women.
In June 2019 the Backto60 campaign group brought a judicial review case to the Divisional Court over the state pension changes affecting some 3.9 million women born in the 1950s.
They were calling for this cohort of women to receive their state pension from the age of 60. The action was supported by other women’s pension rights groups including Waspi (Women against state pension injustice).
Up until 2010 women were eligible for their state pension when they reached the age of 60 but changes have seen this rise with the age at which women qualify for the state pension moving up to 66 for both men and women.
A legal challenge to the way the Government changed the pension age for women was dismissed by the High Court in 2019 with a finding in favour of the government. An appeal brought the following year was also lost.
In 2021 the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that the Department of Work and Pensions had committed maladministration when it failed to give women born in the 1950s adequate notice that they would have to wait several years longer to receive their State Pensions. The Ombudsman’s investigation is continuing.
East Kent Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) members Timandra French and Adrienne Ayres, plus others, braved the weather and train disruption to reach the rally.
Timandra (pictured) said: I wasn’t going to let the snow stop.me. By the time we reached London the snow had turned to rain. We were greeted by a sea of purple brollies in Parliament Square.”
Adrienne (pictured) added: “There was a fantastic crowd of women dressed in purple. It was a brilliant atmosphere and it was great to meet women from all over the country. It’s obvious that women still feel very strongly that we have been mistreated. This rally has made it clear that we won’t give up until we get fair and fast compensation for the lack of notice of the changes to our pension age”.
Fresh legal action to start a Judicial Review was launched by the Women Against State Pension Inequality group on March 3.
Are they also saying the pension age for men should be 60 and their pension should also be backdated. (Equal rights and all that) ??
Agree ,the actual date for the change in dates was set ,in the late 1990’s,if I am right,and acted on some years later.It was in all the newspapers at the time, giving women plenty of time to act,and sort out things ,but no ,many did not ,paying only married woman stamp ,to save a few bob,and not putting into a private/works pension,also to save a few bob ,not looking to the future,it has now come back to bite them ,my wife was on who did pay single person stamp ,to get her own pension ,and took out a works pension,she moaned when the dates were changed,but said equal rights means equal retirement age ,and got on with it ,and now has her own pensions ,,so I say good for her ,stop moaning ,the others,if you did not sort something out
We now have equality, or can one group decide they are more equal than others!
I must admit I find it odd that the women are moaning about this.
Now if the women were fighting to get both sexs retirement age down to 60 I would be right behind them.
It seems women want to be equal and rightly so, no arguments about that from me. But it seems they only want to be equal on things that suit them.
I am getting near retirement age and the government has put another year or so on. This happen with only around 7 or 7 years to go before retirement was due.
Surely the women would have realised that to be equal would mean retirement at the same age as men.
I will support women 100% for equal rights, pay etc. But I dont support them wanting to retire at 60 because the government hadnt given them enough notice ! Really lol did women think the government was going to lower the mens retirement age ?
More women jumping on the bandwagon,hoping to get something they were told they would not be getting,as far back as the mid 1990s.
I bet some of these women were not even born in the 50s.
They should be called WASPEs,not WASPIs,as they are against pension equality.
Selective sex inequality,when it suits them.
Bleeding heart stories of resorting to prostitution and living in cars.They just did not accept or plan for the inevitable and now they want a handout.Men have had to endure this later retirement since the end of WW2,and have a lower life expectancy.
They’re going to lose this argument, rightly or rightly.
Why did a lot of women knowing they ,would not get a state pension, until they reach 66/67,retire/stop working at 60 ,and then have a gall to state ,that have no money to live on , And no posts here from those women ,funny life,men so love to have retired at sixty