Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women

Debate between Margaret Ferrier and Caroline Flint

Monday 1st February 2016 Westminster Hall

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (SNP)]

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

[Caroline Flint]

I will not give way, because of the time. My constituent Margaret recognises that she is more fortunate than many. When she had been retired from teaching for a year, the teachers’ pension service wrote saying that it used the state pension age of 64—not the state pension age of 66—in its pensions calculation letter sent in July 2014, as changes in the state pension age were not in the public domain. That forecast letter stated that the state pension age was unlikely to change, but it did four months later. Seriously, if an established occupational pension scheme cannot advise clearly in July 2014, is it any wonder that so many women have found themselves unprepared for the changes to their financial and social wellbeing? Margaret has never received any information directly from DWP. She has requested all the information herself.

It is clear that mistakes have been made. Sometimes Governments get it wrong and sometimes Departments mess up. In those cases, they should try to put things right. I hope that after today’s debate, the Government will consider transitional arrangements to soften the blow. I also hope that lessons will be learned, across all levels of policy-making, about treating changes of this magnitude as a major project in which the people affected should be at the forefront of planning for change.