On Wednesday the 26 of November, the All-party parliamentary group on State Pension Inequality for Women met for an evidence session with 1950s-born women’s groups. The session followed a large ‘call for evidence’ from the APPG, in which it received an extraordinary amount of individual and group testimonies from 1950s-born women facing severe hardship as a result of the changes to the State Pension age and the subsequent maladministration committed by the DWP.
The session was attended by over 13 cross-party parliamentarians, and the group received presentations from the WASPI Campaign, WASPI International, Backto60 and Pension Partners For Justice (which includes WASPI 2018, Modern Day Suffragettes, WePaidInYouPaidOut, 1950s Women of Wales and beyond and several other groups).
Andrew Gwynne, Labour MP for Denton and Reddish, and Peter Aldous, Conservative MP for Waveney, are co-chair’s of the APPG and led the session on Wednesday. The remit of the APPG includes representing women who have been treated unfairly by the short-notice changes to the State Pension Age, as well as developing and promoting policy solutions to support 1950’s-born women who have faced injustice.
Commenting on the session, Andrew Gwynne said:
This was a highly productive session, and I was pleased to see so many colleagues in attendance. Following the PHSO findings of maladministration, and its ongoing investigation, Peter and I felt that it was very important to hear the thoughts of 1950s-born women on the findings, as well as liaise directly with campaigning groups to understand their priorities moving forward.
I would like to thank all of those who participated in the session, and I look forward to continuing to work with Peter and other APPG officers to support 1950s-born women and continue to put pressure on the Government to right this historic and exceptional injustice.
The full minutes of the session can be found here.