Women from across Renfrewshire were invited to attend the Renfrewshire WASPI group’s information drop-in session at Paisley Grammar School on Thursday night.
The WASPI campaign are calling on the UK government to rectify the issues that have caused 3.8 million women across the UK to be impacted by pension delays due to the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011.
Many women that have been impacted by this in Renfrewshire were in attendance to meet and gain information from other established WASPI groups, along with local politicians, on practices such as the best course of action to take when making a complaint to the DWP about your pension.
The Glasgow and Lanarkshire WASPI group attended the meeting along with local politicians Mhairi Black MP, Tom Arthur MSP, Neil Bibby MSP and local councillors to answer any questions that anyone impacted by this issue may have had.
Recently the SNP had an Opposition Day in the House of Commons regarding the subject of unfair hardship that has been placed on women born in the 1950’s as a result of changes to the state pension age. The motion put forward by the SNP passed by 288 votes to 0. The majority of conservative MP’s chose to abstain.
An Opposition Day motion is not a binding change in the law so the Government are under no obligation to take action on this issue. However, as the motion passed they now have 12 weeks to provide a response.
SNP Pensions Spokesperson and local MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South Mhairi Black has been vocal on raising the plight of the WASPI women since she became an MP in 2015.
Mhairi Black MP, said: “I hope that the conservatives will finally see sense and find a way to help the WASPI women. It is time that they put right this injustice however, I am not convinced that we will see a response from the UK government that will ease the stress and burden that this issue has caused the WASPI women.”
“I was more than happy to go along and speak to the WASPI Renfrewshire group in Paisley Grammar School. This injustice affects over 6200 women in Renfrewshire. These women deserve our time and attention as this issue is not going away.”
Tom Arthur, SNP MSP for Renfrewshire South, said: ““These unfair changes affect women born in the 1950s, many of whom have paid their National Insurance contributions for decades with the expectation that they would be able to retire at 60.
“It is disgraceful that 2.6 million women across the country have been unfairly forced to reconsider their retirement plans at short notice.
“This issue affects thousands of women across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, including their families and I will continue to support the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign.”