Women fighting state pension age changes go back to court

Campaigners are challenging the Government’s decision to raise the state pension age at the Court of Appeal

Campaigners are back in court arguing that changing the women’s state pension age from 60 to 66 is discriminatory and unlawful.

Almost four million women born in the 1950s who thought they would be able to retire at 60 have had to wait another five or six years because of Government changes to the state pension age.

Last year, campaign group Backto60 took the Government to the High Court for a judicial review to get women reimbursed for money lost due to state pension changes.

The case involves two women - Julie Delve, 62, and Karen Glynn, 63 - who argued that raising the pension age unlawfully discriminated against them “on the grounds of age, sex, and age and sex combined”.

They lost after the High Court ruled that the increase in the state pension age affecting women born in the 1950s was not discriminatory.

The case has now been taken to the Court of Appeal, which is hearing arguments over two days.

Speaking at a virtual court hearing on Tuesday, Michael Mansfield QC, representing the women, said the state pension changes had been “catastrophic for this group".

“We have a group of essentially, economically and emotionally, disenfranchised women. So it is against that background that we do submit that there are grounds for discrimination,” he told the court via video link.

What caused the uproar?

The Pensions Act 1995 increased the state pension age for women and would have brought the qualifying age in line with men by 2020.

The Government then decided to accelerate its plan to increase the state pension age in 2011, so that men and women were on an equal footing by 2018.

The state pension age is currently 65 for both men and women and will increase to 67 by 2028.

Moneywise has spoken to a number of women born in the 1950s hit by the state pension changes, many of whom have suffered financially and emotionally.

Some women stopped working after expecting to receive a pension, but the changes have left them with little time to make alternative plans.

While the government insists it did enough to notify affected women of the changes, many disagree.

BackTo60 and other campaign groups, notably Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) argue that many women born in the 1950s were not warned of the changes and have suffered financial hardship as a result.

What do the campaigners want?

BackTo60 is campaigning for all women born during the 1950s to have their financial position restored to the position it would have been, had the state pension age remained at 60.