SNP MP Patricia Gibson paid tribute to the “dogged determination” of women born in the 1950s who continue to “campaign against the injustice they have suffered” due to changes made to the State Pension age. The North Ayrshire and Arran MP also called on the UK Government to “work with the WASPI women to work out how they can be compensated when the ruling on the matter is made”.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign (WASPI) is seeking compensation for some 3.8 million women across Great Britain who missed out on State Pension payments from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) when the official age of retirement was raised from 60 to 65 between April 2010 and November 2018. It later increased to 66 for men and women in October 2020.
Ms Gibson made the comments during a cross-party debate last week on ‘support for women in poverty’ which was held following an application from DUP MP Jim Shannon to the Backbench Business Committee.
Support for women of all ages was the topic of the debate with former SNP MP, now an Independent, Margaret Ferrier, highlighting that “nine out of 10 single parents are women”.
She continued: “The median gross weekly pay for male single parents is £340, but for women it is £194.40. It cannot be denied that a key factor is gender, as women in general are more likely to be paid less or have to work part time.”
Ms Gibson argued that the ongoing cost of living crisis has “no end in sight” and is “wreaking terrible damage on household incomes, families and even relationships across the United Kingdom”.
She added: “We know that women are more likely to be living in poverty. They are more likely to be in lower-paid jobs, more likely than their male counterparts to be single parents, more likely to have caring responsibilities and even more likely to rely on social security.
“We also know that women are much more impacted by austerity measures, as they are more likely to rely to a greater degree on public services, which themselves are already under great pressure.”
She also highlighted how research by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that families with younger children and lone-parent families, which are predominantly headed by women, face a disproportionate risk of poverty. This is mainly because having younger children impacts on a parent’s ability to undertake paid work, the hours they can work and their pay.
But Ms Gibson also stressed the need to discuss the plight of the WASPI women.
She said: “We cannot talk about women in poverty without acknowledging the great injustice inflicted on women born in the 1950s, who were robbed of their pensions and had their retirement plans thrown into chaos when the retirement age was raised with little or no notice, depriving them of tens of thousands of pounds of their rightful pensions. I pay tribute to the dogged determination of the WASPI women to campaign against the injustice they have suffered.
“As a result of that injustice, many have been thrown into poverty after a lifetime of low pay. Many have faced financial ruin, and, worse, many have died due to ill health without ever receiving their rightful pension.”
She continued: “While we are debating women in poverty, it has to be said that there is a widespread view that the way in which those women have been cruelly treated would never have happened to men.
“The truth is that those women were seen as an easy target for a Government wishing to cut spending, which is shameful.
“The fact that a whole generation of women had their retirement age increased with little or no notice is beyond shocking. Alongside that came poverty, indignity and hardship, which those women will not easily forgive. It would never have happened to a whole generation of men.”
Ms Gibson added: “There are a number of things that this Government could do, and I urge the Minister [Mims Davies MP] to work with the WASPI women to work out how they can be compensated when the ruling on the matter is made."
In July 2021, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled the DWP failed to communicate the changes to women born in the 1950s with enough urgency, finding it guilty of maladministration, and is currently investigating the harm caused.
The PHSO found that "the opportunity that additional notice would have given them to adjust their retirement plans was lost”.
The final report is due this year.
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