State Pension Age – @WASPI_Campaign women’s protest and more

Yesterday was International Women’s Day which was marked in many ways including a mass demonstration in London by Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI). We have blogged before on this issue. Their latest action was a protest outside Parliament about the lack of information given to them about their pensions and to raise awareness of the difficulties that this is causing for those affected. Women from different parts of the UK  including from Scotland, Manchester, the North East, and Wales travelled to Westminster. The aim of the campaign is to seek fair transitional arrangements. The UK government has been criticised for not making women properly aware of the changes.

The BBC article quotes Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris who chairs the State Pension Inequality for Women committee, as saying: “Some women are selling their homes in order to be able to survive, living off savings which are rapidly running out and I don’t think it’s fair, having in some way shape or form contributed to society all their lives.”

On the subject of state pension age, readers may be interested in an event planned for later this year by the Westminster Employment Forum. This will look at the challenges for policymakers in the context of an ageing population and the independent review of the State Pension Age (SPA). The conference will take place on Thursday 2nd November 2017, further details to be found here. Speakers include Dr Joanne Crawford, Head of Ergonomics and Human Factors, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Christopher Brooks, Senior Policy Manager, Consumer and Community, Age UK.

(This post was updated on 9th May 2017 to reflect the revised date for the Westminster Employment Forum event.)