SNP call for Westminster independent commission on pensions

The SNP has called on the UK Government to set up an independent commission to investigate how changes to the state pension will effect both men and women.

Leading yesterday’s backbench business debate in the House of Commons into the effect of State Pension Age rises and the inequalities this has created for women born in the 1950s, Mhairi Black MP praised those involved in the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) Campaign.

A petition by the WASPI Campaign which calls on the UK Government to make fair transitional state pension arrangements for women born in the 1950s has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

SNP Pensions spokesman Ian Blackford said: “Asking older women to return to work to make ends meet, after their retirement plans have been shattered by state pension age rises, simply isn’t fair and in many cases is not possible through ill-health or care commitments.

“The SNP fully support equalisation but now, more than ever, it is absolutely vital that the same mistakes are not repeated which is why the UK Government should establish an independent pensions commission to fully investigate the effects of the pension reforms.

“There has been a complete failure to address a lifetime of low pay and inequality faced by many women born in the 1950s and now women are at risk of further hardship under the new pension system which makes it all the more disappointing that only a handful of Tory MPs bothered to show up to debate this important issue.

“We have vastly different situations across the UK with a person aged 65 in Scotland today likely to live until they are 82 if they are man and 84 if they are a woman - nearly two and a half years below life expectancy in England meaning a pensioner in Scotland – no matter whether they are a woman or a man - has much less time to enjoy a secure and comfortable retirement.

“The SNP has demonstrated that there is a very clear cross-party view that transitional arrangements must be introduced and the Tories need to act now to ensure that pension reforms do not put future generations at a disadvantage.”

Mhairi Black MP, said: “Women born in the 1950s have been badly let down by the UK Government when it comes to their pensions and it is morally reprehensible that many thousands of women will actually lose out financially as a result of changes that were designed to make pensions more equal.

“These women have done exactly what was asked of them by working hard all their lives and have paid their national insurance only to have it taken away from them behind their backs and I would like to thank all those involved in the WASPI Campaign for all their hard work in raising this issue.

“Pensions are not benefits, they are contracts which women born in the 1950s entered into aged 17 but fundamentally the 2011 Pensions Act represents a broken contract.

“There needs to be better transitional arrangements for these women and I urge the Tory government to act now.”