The two official Northern Ireland Assembly Opposition parties have called for fair transitional arrangements to be put in place for women affected by changes to the state pension age.
The first Opposition Day saw a petition presented to the Speaker on behalf of Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign and a debate on the floor of the Assembly calling on the Government to rethink their position.
Ulster Unionist MLA, Jenny Palmer said:
“There are few things so clearly deserved as the state pension. The promise – that if you work hard throughout your working life, the state will take care of you in your old age is an ideal which has underpinned our society for more than 70 years. The way in which the women’s state pension age has been increased by the Government has left post-retirement planning in tatters for many.
“The Government have substantially moved the goalposts, without giving those affected appropriate notice. It is therefore no surprise that the women negatively impacted by the changes are frustrated, and are calling on Her Majesty’s Government to address this unfairness.
“The Ulster Unionist Party will continue to raise their concerns both in the Assembly and at Westminster, to force the Government to re-examine this issue.”
SDLP MLA, Colin McGrath said:
“Because of the introduction of these changes and the fact that it wasn’t done in a more incremental and timely way, some women who are born just three years apart are now having to work for an extra six years.
“Deprived of pension payments on one hand, forced to contribute on the other, the majority of those impacted are now in their 60s. The way these changes were introduced cruelly impacts on the lives of older women.
“To add insult to injury, in some cases, the WASPI Women were given a mere one year’s notice of such a devastating blow to their life plans.
“Some women who have not been working in later years and were expecting an income from the State Pension are now at age 60, 61 and 62 and are turning to job seekers allowance and zero hour contracts just to make ends meet.
“The huge numbers of women treated unfairly in this way means that we all know someone affected. Mothers, grandmothers and aunts, it’s not good enough that they find themselves having to work zero hour contracts just to survive. That is why the SDLP are presenting this petition to the Speaker today and why we will be speaking in favour of the motion this afternoon.”
Wilma Grey, WASPI NI coordinator said:
“The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign does not disagree with the equalisation of the state pension age, but we take issue with the haphazard way it has been implemented by the UK Government, which has left women born on or after 6th April 1951 uniquely disadvantaged by the changes. Women who had paid National Insurance Contributions from they were 16 years old in the expectation that they could retire at 60, learned just before their 60th birthdays that they would not be able to draw the state pension until they were 64, 65 or 66 in some cases. The timetable for the increases is completely bizarre, a one-year age gap can mean you have to wait an extra three and a half years to reach pensionable age.
“The Government continue to claim that no woman will have to wait longer than 18 months to receive their state pension. The reality is that the women’s state pension age will increase by 6 years from April 2010 to October 2020. The lack of appropriate notification from the Government of these changes has left thousands of women without income they had expected, with many facing financial hardship as a result.
“We call on the Work & Pensions Secretary to ensure fairness for the women negatively impacted here in Northern Ireland, and to introduce appropriate transitional payments.”