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Campaigners denounce pension ruling
Campaigners expressed deep disappointment at last month’s High Court decision to rule against women affected by adjustments made to the state pension age.
Two claimants took the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to court, arguing that raising their pension age “unlawfully discriminated against them on the grounds of age, sex, and age and sex combined”.
Nearly four million women born in the 1950s have been affected by the changes which increased the state pension age from 60 to 66.
Dave Prentis, general secretary of the UNISON public services union, said the judgment was a terrible blow for millions of women.
“The decision to hike the state pension age with next to no notice didn’t just throw their retirement plans up in the air, it also left many women on lower incomes really struggling to make ends meet.
“Now, almost a quarter of a century later, justice and the state pension that was so cruelly snatched away from them remain disappointingly out of reach.” Prentis said it was perverse that the DWP had no obligation to inform the women of this significant change.
Campaign group BackTo60 said it would appeal the decision.
The group’s campaign director, Joanne Welch, said: “They can’t knock us back. We’ve got a fierce and powerful armoury behind us. As well as the 3.8 million women affected, we have the support of 215 MPs, Unite, UNISON, the TUC and others.”