South Shields MP backs women's fair pensions fight

Emma Lewell-Buck met with campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) when they visited London to lobby parliament.

The group - including women from South Tyneside - are among thousands of women, who were born in the early 1950s, who are missing out on cash because of a change in the system, which increased the age at which women can access state pensions from 60 to 66.

The act was passed by the Government in 1995– to bring the retirement age of women in line with that for men

However, a lot of the women say they were not told of the changes or how it would affect them until it was too late - forcing some to return to work.

During the protest, the group were backed by a number of MPs including Mrs Lewell-Buck.

She said: “I was proud to stand with the WASPI women demonstrating in parliament last week. Their fearlessness, energy and courage never ceases to amaze me. Rest assured that their zeal is matched by those of us in parliament who founded the all parliamentary group in May to fight for those women affected by pension inequality to get the outcome they want and deserve. The government must step up and introduce some transitional measures, I and other MPs will not let them rob the millions of women born in the 1950’s of the pensions they have earned.”

The campaign group is calling on the Government to provide transitional payments to cover the shortfall between the age at which they believed they could draw a pension and the actual age at which they now can.

The change has affected those in line for retirement after April 6, 2011.

The group currently has the biggest parliamentary group fighting their corner.

For information on the campaign or how to join visit the group’s website www.waspi.co.uk or their facebookpage.