Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI)

Caroline holding a placard pledging to support WASPI

This group represents women born in the 1950s who are unfairly penalised by changes to the state pension.

In 1995 the pension age was made equal for men and women. WASPI is not opposing that change but, rightly, campaigns against the serious injustice that many women were not told that the change affected them. A further change in 2011 brought forward the date for equalisation, compounding the injustice. As a result, women born in the 1950s had even less time left to adapt to the changes. As I know from correspondence with women affected in Brighton, many are left struggling to make ends meet, forced to continue working, when they had expected to retire.

During the last session of Parliament I did all I could to keep this issue on the agenda. For example, I was co-chair of a group of MPs giving cross party support to the WASPI campaign in Parliament; I supported the amazing WASPI demonstration on Budget Day, attended by over six and a half thousand women; and I presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of affected women in Brighton Pavilion, as part of a mass handing in of petitions from WASPI groups across the country.

If re-elected, I will continue to do all I can to urge the Government to listen to the stories of women affected by this pension injustice and, crucially, will call upon them to act to deliver a fair deal to the WASPI women.

Join The Discussion