WASPI women outside Pisarros in Hastings

WASPI women are buzzing…

Women of a certain age throughout the UK are gearing up for new careers as political campaigners and activists. Hastings is no exception to this groundswell of female unrest and has an active group of go-getting women, intent on righting an injustice of which many people are unaware. Sandra Morris is one of them, and sets out their case here.

The injustice in question is the lack of fair transitional arrangements for women born in the 1950s (on or after 6 April 1951) who have had their State Pension Age raised not once, but twice, with insufficient notice to form alternative plans to make up the substantial financial loss.

It has been acknowledged that the whole debacle has been handled badly, by both government and the DWP, as many thousands of women were never formally informed of the changes until it was too late to make alternative arrangements.

Contrary to popular opinion, we are not asking for the pension age to revert to 60, but we do want fair transitional arrangements to be put in place to ease the financial burden of having to work for so much longer. There was little or no personal notice of the 1995/2011 Pension Acts, and the changes have been made faster than promised. Retirement plans have been shattered, with often devastating consequences.

A small group of women dedicated to fighting the cause, started a campaign group in 2015, and have subsequently garnered cross-party support in the House of Commons, as well as a slew of influential people who recognise the injustice and are helping to co-ordinate the campaign. Local groups are springing up around the country, adding to pressure on the government to implement a more humane approach to the very real distress being caused to many thousands of women in an age group, who often have joint caring responsibilities for both grandchildren and elderly parents.

Hastings and Rother now has an active WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) group – and welcomes the support and participation of anyone affected.

In order to raise awareness of the campaign, we have been actively lobbying our constituency MP, Amber Rudd, as well as local councillors and dignitaries, and have planned an event to coincide with the WASPI National Day of Local Action on Friday 16 September.

We will be assembling near The Pier at 10.45am and marching to the Town Hall, handing out leaflets en route. We welcome all affected women, their families, friends and supporters to join us on the day.

WASPI women are buzzing… and will keep on stinging.

For information: WASPI website. Or Facebook (Hastings & Rother WASPI Group).
Email: hastings-waspi@outlook.com

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