Equalisation of State Pension Age

At the start of the year in the House of Commons, I had the privilege to contribute to a debate on the issue of pension inequality – an issue which impacts on many women across North Ayrshire & Arran, born in the 1950s.

Following a petition organised by the group Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) which has gained over 120,000 signatures on the UK Parliament website, a Backbench Debate was led by the SNP. In 1995, the then Government announced changes to the state pension, designed to bring the qualifying age for women in to line with that for men, by the year 2020. Further changes in 2011 increased the female retirement age from 60 to 65 by 2018 – with plans for it to reach age 66 by 2020.

These changes have meant that women born after 1950 are not eligible for a state pension as early as they expected, and those born after 1953 had their pension age revised up even further.

A DWP report in 2004 (Public Awareness of State Pension Equalisations, DWP Research Report No 221, 2004) showed that many were not aware of the impact it would have on them, many women find themselves in a position where they will have to work 18 months longer than expected, with only two years notice – throwing retirement plans up in the air. Indeed, Age UK stated that these revised timetables gave “insufficient time to prepare for retirement”.

At the time these changes were made, Pension’s Minister, Steve Webb MP accepted in October 2013 that: “… some women did not know about it, and not everybody heard about it at the time …” In view of this, it is vital that the Government take some responsibility for that failure to notify and fully prepare women for a longer wait for retirement.

The rationale to justify this timetable is also rather flawed, with the Government claiming that the changes would reduce the advantage currently enjoyed by women over men, as a result of a lower pension age and higher life expectancy. However the impact is actually not as clear cut, and men – through typically higher earnings – may be in a better position to offset part of the loss either through savings or a private pension scheme.

In reality, many women view these pension changes as the final insult, having already suffered low pay and inequality throughout a lifetime of work.

Asking older women to return to work to make ends meet after shattering their retirement plans is not just cruel, it simply isn’t fair and in many instances isn’t always possible. Many women, having fully planned for their retirement, may have accepted a redundancy settlement and now find themselves in a position where they must accept a job on a zero hours contract just to get by. Others are simply unable to work due to the commitments they have to looking after older family members or grandchildren.  Indeed, some are not able to find work that is suitable to their state of health.

Whilst the SNP agrees with the principle of equalisation, we do not support the unfair manner in which these changes have been made, and it is clear that a transitional period is required to protect retirement plans for female workers.

On top of this, it is absolutely vital that the same mistakes are not repeated, which is why we are calling on the UK Government to establish an independent pensions commission to fully investigate the impact of pension reforms on current and future generations.