Motion to Eastleigh Borough Council,by Councillor Liz Jarvis
Council notes that
- In the 1995 Pensions Act, the Government increased State Pension age for women from 60 to 65, with a further increase to 66 in the 2011 Pensions Act;
- the change was not properly communicated to 3.8 million women born in the 1950s until 2012, giving some only one year’s notice of a six year increase in their anticipated retirement age;
- there are 6,310 1950s-born WASPI women in Eastleigh;
- the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has found that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was guilty of maladministration in its handling of the State Pension Age increase for women born in the 1950s;
- the All Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality for Women has concluded that “the impact of DWP maladministration on 1950s-born women has been as devastating as it is widespread. The APPG believes that the case for category 6 injustice is overwhelming and clear. Women have had their emotional, physical, and mental circumstances totally obliterated by a lack of reasonable notice”;
- research commissioned by campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) has found that by the end of 2022, more than 220,000 1950s born women will have died waiting for justice since the WASPI campaign began in 2015;
- WASPI’s figures show that over the course of the two year COVID pandemic, one in 10 women who died were affected by these uncommunicated changes and lost both their state pension income and the opportunity to make alternative retirement plans; and that
- despite the Ombudsman’s findings and the rapid death rate of those affected, the government is choosing to wait for further reports before taking any action.
Council supports
- The conclusion of the All Party Parliamentary Group on State Pension Inequality that women born in the 1950s have suffered a gross injustice, affecting their emotional, physical and mental circumstances in addition to causing financial hardship;
- a swift resolution to this ongoing injustice before more and more women die waiting for compensation;
- proper compensation in line with the Parliamentary Ombudsman's recommendations.
Council resolves
- To ask the Leader of the Council to write to local Members of Parliament, and to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to outline the effects of the injustice to 1950s women on the community in Eastleigh and to seek their support for fair and fast compensation for WASPI women.
Notes to the editor
The figures have been provided by the WASPI campaign