FAIRER PENSION RIGHTS for women has prompted letters being lodged from local Moray residents to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
The written protest is part of the WASPI campaign in which thousands of women from around the country have been protesting changes to their pension rights that pushed back their retirement age by as much as six years.
Several women affected by the changes joined a 2,500 strong demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament last month, while WASPI continue to mount pressure on the government, this time via complaints directly to the DWP.
The mass letter writing aims to highlight to the wider public the hardship and unfairness suffered by women born in the 1950s, on or after the 6th April 1951, as a result of the Government’s alterations to the State Pension Age (SPA) and, in particular, the lack of notice given to the changes by the Department for Work and Pensions.
A spokesman for the Moray WASPI group said: “This is the beginning of the complaints procedure to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
“It is the official agency investigating complaints of injustice caused by an organisation not acting fairly. In the case of the WASPI campaign it is that the Government did not give 1950s women enough notice regarding the changes to their state pension age.
“WASPI does not object to the increase in the women’s SPA, nor does it want to repeal the 1995 and 2011 Pensions Acts, but represents a cohort of women who have been unfairly disadvantaged by the speed of the increase, compounded by the absence of notice provided by successive Governments.
“In many cases, this has resulted in enormous hardship, with devastating consequences.”
The Moray WASPI Supporters group also plans to take part in the local Day of Action on September 16 when Local Groups from all over the country will be raising awareness of the Campaign and lobbying their MPs.
More information can be obtained by emailing moraywaspis@gmail.com or visiting the campaign online.