Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, has made a strong call for the UK Coalition Government to think again on its plan to sharply accelerate the rise in the state pension age (SPA) to 66 by 2020. This would see women in their late fifties having to work up to two years longer than they had expected before being able to claim their pension.
The decision breaks the previous cross-party consensus that the SPA would rise to 66 for both men and women by 2026. A mass lobby of Parliament took place this week but Mark’s experience is that many people don’t realise that they will be affected.
“The changes have been sprung on women in their fifties without giving them fair notice.
“In the Edinburgh North & Leith constituency, 900 women will be affected, and across Edinburgh as a whole about 5000 are likely to be hit. Most of these women are likely to rely on the state pension as a high proportion of women in this age group don’t have a private pension.
“Of course some people are happy to work on but it’s just not that simple for everyone to go on working – over a third of those affected are no longer in paid work because they are in ill-health or caring for others.
“Many people are unaware even now of what is going to happen because the Government has not properly publicised the changes.”
“The Tories and Liberal Democrats have been forced to make changes on other issues when there has been enough pressure. I would urge all those affected to support the campaigns by Age UK and Unions Together to get the government to think again.
“It’s a matter of basic justice for women denied the right to take their pensions when they expected and left with no time to prepare.”
The changes now being proposed were not part of the Coalition Agreement in May and have aroused broad opposition from unions and organisations such as Age UK and SAGA which all see the need for the pension age to rise but argue people must have enough time to prepare.
As a result of the changes, 500,000 women would see their pension age rise by over a year; 300,000 would face an increase of over 18 months and 33,000 women would have to work an extra two years.
The increase in the state pension age for men is also being brought forward and phased in more quickly but whereas women’s SPA will rise by six years between 2010 and 2020, men’s will only go up by one year.
