A REDDITCH woman says she will be £45,000 worse off due to State pension changes meaning women will now no longer receive theirs at 60.
Judy Phillips, of Church Hill, has been retired three months and will now, like thousands of other women across the UK, have to wait years for her pension.
“I worked for 40-odd years and put money towards my pension, which is a contract between me and the Government really,” she said.
“I’m 60 and I can’t collect my pension until I’m 66, meaning I’m £45,000 out of pocket.
“My husband’s about to retire soon and we’re only going to have one pension coming through,” she added.
Mrs Phillips was so angry at the injustice of it all she joined the pressure group WASPI, Women Against State Pension Inequality, whose aim is to achieve fair transitional state pension arrangements for women born in the 1950s.
The campaigners object to the way the pension changes were made, designed to equalise pensionable age between men and women, believing they were made with little personal notice, and were rushed through giving those affected no time to make alternative arrangements.
“I’m new to WASPI, having joined not long after I retired.
“Lots of ladies I know will be affected by the pension changes but unfortunately, a lot don’t know about this organisation,” she said.
Now she is on a mission to get more local people signed up to put pressure on local MP Karen Lumley and Parliament itself.
“I have people saying to me ‘my daughter’s 60 and she’s not going to get her pension’ so my aim is to tell people about it,” said Judy.
WASPI is holding a National Day of Action on Friday, September 16, where the group aims to raise awareness both with local women and MPs plus recruit new members.
This includes a protest at 10 Downing Street to let Prime Minister Theresa May, herself born in 1956, know how they feel.
To find out more, e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.waspi.co.uk/ .
