MP stands up for Hull women hit by unfair pension plans

Diana Johnson MP today opposed Coalition Government plans to make around 3,000 Hull women wait over a year longer than planned for their state pension.

The Hull North MP slammed the Government's proposals which leave many women aged 56 and 57 feeling robbed as they face losing up to £10,000 in pension income.

Across the country, 300,000 women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 October 1954, will have to wait an extra 18 months, and an unlucky 33,000 born between 6 March 1954 and 5 April 1954 will have to wait an extra two years, before being entitled to their state pension.

The majority of these women will already be well underway in their plans for retirement, with many already working reduced hours in order to care for grandchildren or elderly parents. Yet they are now being forced to make significant changes to their financial plans, with just five years notice before the changes kick in.

Hull North Labour MP Diana Johnson believes that these changes are unfair and voted against these plans that hit women hardest. The plans were voted through by Lib Dem and Tory MPs in the Commons today.

Diana Johnson MP said: "I strongly disagree with the Government's plans to increase the state pension age for women as 3,000 women in Hull are being made to wait up to two years longer for their state pension.

"Many of these are women have juggled working lives with raising a family, and will often have very little retirement saving to fall back on. The lack of warning for these changes means that they do not have enough time to adjust carefully thought-out retirement plans and leaves them feeling robbed of their pensions.

"This is another broken promise from the Tory-led Government. The Coalition Agreement stated that they would not raise the state pension age for women before 2020 - but they have shamefully gone back on their word. That's why I voted against these unfair plans that were forced through by Lib Dems and Tories."

Labour's Shadow Minister for Women and Equality, Yvette Cooper MP said: "From child care support to pensions, from employment to bus travel, it seems David Cameron's Government is determined to hit women hardest.

"The plans to change the pension age are the latest in a long line of measures that leave women with an unfair deal. To hit women harder, when they still have lower earnings, much lower savings and lower pensions than men is unjust. That's why Labour is campaigning to get the Government to rethink these unfair pension changes."

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