Many constituents have contacted me with concerns surrounding the equalisation of the state pension age, and the effect it will have for women born in the 1950s.
Whilst in principle, I am supportive of an equalisation of the pension age for men and women, I cannot agree with the unfair manner in which the UK Government is imposing these changes. More than 2 million women paid their National Insurance contributions throughout their lives on the expectation that they would receive their state pension and receive that at a certain age, only for the goalposts to be moved by the UK Government.
The effect of this pace of change is that many women who have had their retirement plans shattered are now forced to accept zero hours, temporary and low paid contracts, which offer little financial security. Not only have these women affected felt the deep financial cost, struggling to go back to employment or make ends meet after having little time to prepare for a longer road to their state pension, many of these women will also bear the human cost of missing out with planned valuable years with their grandchildren or with their partner.
The UK Government has been reticent to act to address this unfairness. In January, my SNP colleagues lead a backbench debate with cross-party support calling on the UK Government to revisit the transitional arrangements. Despite the SNP’s motion winning the vote at the end of this debate, the UK Government shamefully refused to come forward with an alternative.
Nevertheless, please rest assured that my SNP colleagues and I will continue to vigorously pursue fairness for the affected women. My SNP colleague Mhairi Black MP, who sits on Parliament’s Work & Pensions Committee, will be pressing this Committee to recommend that the UK Government revisit its transitional arrangements and I hope that MPs from across other parties will look favourably on supporting the women affected by these unfair changes.
