A Fermanagh woman was among the thousands of ‘Women Against State Pension Inequality’ (WASPI) campaigners who held a demonstration at Westminster last Wednesday.

The campaigners were calling for transitional state pension arrangements to be put in place for women born in the 1950s who were hit particularly hard by increases to their state pension age.
Wilma Grey, from Enniskillen, represented the 4,000 women from Fermanagh South Tyrone who were impacted by the 2011 Pensions Act which allowed the UK Government to accelerate the increase of the retirement age for women from 60 to 65.

Across the UK, millions of women have had their state pension age delayed without appropriate notification, resulting in financial hardship and uncertain futures. In addition, the speeding up of the increase from 60 to 65 has resulted in discrepancies between the dates on which women of a similar age become eligible to receive their state pension.

In 1995 the British Government decided to bring the female pension age of 60 in line with the male pension age of 65. However an FOI submitted by WASPI proved that the Department for Work and Pensions did not send letters of notification to millions of women until 14 years after the law was passed. As a result, many women only found out when they were aged between 58 and 60 that, in fact, they would not receive their state pension until they were 65. 

“The injustice and acceleration of this transition is incomprehensible and the fact that we were given little or no notice is shameful,” stated Ms. Grey, who discovered in 2012 that she would not receive her state pension at 60. She has since discovered that, because she was born in January 1954, she will not reach the state pension age until May 2019. However, someone nine months older will receive their pension this month (July 2016), while a lady who is five years younger will reach state pension age five months after Ms. Grey.

“The 1995 Pensions Act was severe but to have my state pension age increased by another 18 months in 2011, just two years before my sixtieth birthday, was a double blow. As Mark Durkan said in the House of Commons: ‘Let’s give them one more twist of injustice in the name of equalisation as they come to the end of their working lives’,” Ms. Grey added.
“This travesty needs to be addressed ASAP,” the Enniskillen woman continued. “Women in our country are suffering stress and depression sue to the worry enforced on them.”

In March this year, the Work and Pensions Committee concluded that “more could and should have been done” to communicate the planned increases, especially between 1995 and 2009. It also launched an inquiry to explore the possible effects of early drawing of state pension.

Ms. Grey concluded: “The DWP have suggested the option of early retirement but at a reduced rate for life; that’s adding insult to injury. WASPI does not disagree with equalisation but the maladministration and steep rises are causing inequality amongst women.”

Fermanagh South Tyrone MP Tom Elliott met Ms. Grey and other campaigners at last week’s demonstration.  From December 2018, the state pension age for men and woman will start to increase to reach 66 by October 2020. The state pension age will further increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.