Waspi women call for state pension access
21 April 2020
Women who were born in the 1950s, affected by the increase to the state pension age, and who are members of the group Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) have urged the government to grant early access to the state pension to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Waspi group argue that early access to the state pension for Waspi women due to reach state pension age this financial year will mean that the government does not have to support them through other measures, namely furlough payments or benefits.
They have also recommended early access to pension credit for women who are otherwise eligible. Some individuals aren’t entitled to this support as their income is too low, but they cannot access other support, such as universal credit. Individuals must receive a minimum income of £144.38 a week if single, or £229.67 if in a couple to qualify for pension credit.
The Waspi group has been opposing the recent raises to the state pension age for women, which were accelerated by the Pension Act 2011. Along with fellow campaign group Backto60, they have argued that changes were unfairly implemented and gave affected individuals insufficient time to prepare or to make alternative plans.
Both groups state that compensation should be awarded to any impacted women, but back in October 2019, the High Court rejected claims from Backto60 that the changes to state pension age were discriminatory. The group will appeal this decision in July 2020.
The Financial Adviser reported that Chrissie Lord, Waspi’s campaign director, stated:
“We’re increasingly concerned about the disproportionate impact the outbreak is having on 1950's born women.
Like others, many Waspi women are seeing a significant impact on their livelihoods as a result of income uncertainty and difficulties accessing affordable food and other essentials.
For women who were already in serious financial difficulty as a result of mismanagement of changes to the state pension age, the impact is huge.”
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.