Waspi - parliamentary support

Hi ladies, I don't know if any of you are aware of the WASPI campaign. Protesters came to the public gallery during the budget speech to draw yet again attention to the unfairness in the present state pension system. The issue is not about equality. We are not arguing about whether women should have an equal pension age. We are complaining that despite paying the 35 years NI.contribution that is required for a full pension some women born in the fifties have had their pension age changed without sufficient warning and were not given enough time to make financial adjustment and save for an early pension. The Canadian Minister for Finance said we should have been given 12-15 years warning of the change. Some women have had to give up well paid jobs in professions due to ill health and are now in their early sixties in hard jobs like cleaning for very little pay despite still being unwell. Women were encouraged to work part-time, look after their families and old people and pay a smaller stamp always believing that if they sacrificed their opportunities for a career they would still get a pension at 60 and a decent life in retirement. Many women who are single cannot afford to retire. There are many cases of hardship. I am financially sound but I worked in a well paid job and made large contributions to a private pension scheme and put my redundancy payment as deposit on a rental house. Other women, the cleaners and caterers on a third of my pay in the university could not afford to make these arrangements and need to rely on a state pension at the age they were originally promised.


We are trying to publicise our case and gain more support. There is now significant cross party support in the House of Commons. The RT Hon Peter Bottomley recently said the present system was unjust. The SNP have been particularly supportive and even the DUP in N,I. support our case. We need support from men and women of all ages. Thanks for reading this.