Many women born between 1953 - 1955 have had their State of Pension Age (SPA) increased by a year or more without them knowing it. The government's failure to communicate the change and the economic blow that this change will bring on the seniors, especially women, have created an outcry from women's groups and Members of Parliament who have accused the British government of dereliction of duty.
The Guardian provides the context to the case. The traditional retirement age for women in the United Kingdom was 60 years old upon which they can collect their pension and other benefits. After an initial increase of the SPA to 65 in 1995, the British government raised the bar higher again in 2011, pushing it to 66 years old by April 2016 to November 2018 for women. Then by October 2020, both elderly men and women will have their SPA at 66.
The Guardian reports that the British government effected this change to save L30 billion. However, that one-year increase will cost each woman a loss of L30,000 in her pension. Aggravating the matter is that these women were caught unprepared because the government failed to notify them or communicate the impact of these changes on their lives.
The largest sector affected are about half a million women born from October 1953 to April 1955.
A related report by Money Wise stated the strong stand taken by the Women Against State Penalty Inequality (WASPI). The group demanded that the government "must make fair transitional arrangements for all women born on or after 6 April 1951 who have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the state pension age. Hundreds of thousands of women have had significant changes imposed on them with a lack of appropriate notification."
Waspi has launched an online petition which has already stocked up 140,000 signatures, or 40,000 more than the 100,000 needed for the Parliament to conduct a debate on the issue.
According to the Mirror, British minister Shaleish Vara inflamed the issue by suggesting that these elderly women, struggling with little money when they are least employable, claim other benefits instead like jobseeker's allowance.
Angela Rayner, Labour's shadow pensions miinister, shot back that Vara's comments only "added insult to injury." She said, "We need a bit less arrogance and a bit more honesty from this Tory team that's failing so many British women."
