The government has again rejected pleas to introduce transitional arrangements for women adversely affected by state pension equalisation.
During a debate in the House of Commons yesterday evening (1 February) Shailesh Vara, a minister in the Department for Work &Pensions, said women affected by the changes could rely on other benefits.
The debate was triggered by a petition organised by the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, which called for transitional arrangements and received more than 141,000 signatures.
During the debate, Mr Vara said that “when people need extra funds, other benefits are available”.
He said: “That is the case for those who are in work and those who are not. In only a decade, the time that 65-year-olds live in good health has gone up by just over a year.
“Of course, this is welcome news, but the reality is that it puts increasing pressure on the state pension scheme.
“Even when the state pension age changes are taken into account, women in this group will on average receive a higher state pension over their lifetime than any generation before them.”
Mr Vara pointed out to reverse the Pensions Act 2011 would cost more than £30bn, “which simply is not sustainable”, adding nor is it sustainable to reverse the 1995 changes, which would cost many billions more.
State pension age increases equalisation measures for men and women began to take effect in 2010, but chancellor George Osborne later revised the timetable and announced a much quicker schedule than originally planned.
The changes meant the increase to age 65 will happen between 2016 and 2018, and then both sexes’ pension age will increase to 66 by 2020 rather than by 2026.
The increase of the state pension has meant some women who are weeks away from their former state pension age could find themselves many months away from their new state pension age.
Mhairi Black, the Scottish National Party MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, led a previous debate in the House of Commons on this issue, criticising the way the changes were communicated.
In the latest debate she said: “The whole reason why we find ourselves with this problem in the first place begins with poor communication between the government and those affected, and it seems that this government have not learned any lessons from that poor communication.
“They cannot continue to imply that the single-tier pension will solve the problem, because it will not.”
Labour’s Helen Jones, the MP for Warrington North, said many women would be “driven into poverty” as a result of the changes.
Last month pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann said she was “astonished” to hear what a campaign group she was once involved with was currently demanding.
Before becoming a minister Baroness Altmann had been involved with the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
