A NEW FINANCIAL REPORT from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has found that more than one million women in their 60s have become poorer as a result of delays to their state pensions.
Now the campaign group Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) is pointing to the study which also notes that the changes to their pensions has boosted the Treasury by £5.1billion each year.
At the same time, the fall in household incomes caused by the pension reforms have pushed income poverty among 60 to 62-year-old women sharply upwards. The Moray WASPI group has been one of the most active in the country, with it estimated that over 6000 women are affected by the changes.
Jane Cowley is the national director of the WASPI campaign. She said: “Once again, this shows that the Government has implemented State Pension Age reforms without adequately considering the full impact of these changes on the women affected.
“Whether it is the 3.5million WASPI women who were not given sufficient warning of rises to their State Pension Age, or the sharp rise in income poverty among 60 to 62-year-old women, the Government needs to sit up and start realising that its changes have devastating consequences on the women affected.
“Yet again, it is women who are paying the price for the Government’s pension reforms. This simply isn’t good enough when the UK already has one of the biggest pension pay gaps in Europe.”
The issue has repeatedly prompted questions in the House of Commons with the government refusing time and again to recognise the near impossible financial position affected women have been placed under.
Moray’s Tory MP, Douglas Ross, is yet to speak out against the UK Government policy in the House of Commons – although he did sign a pledge to support the Moray WASPI campaign during the General Election campaign in May.