Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women Debate
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Philippa Whitford
Main Page: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)Department Debates - View all Philippa Whitford's debates with the Ministry of Justice
Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women
Philippa Whitford Excerpts(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)
I would like to challenge the figure that was quoted by a Member on the Government Benches. The Opposition spokesman might have the correct figure, but the figure reported from the Department for Work and Pensions investigation in 2004 was just above 40%, not 75%. Surely, given such a cataclysmic change, every single one of these women should have had a simple letter on the doormat in 1995.
Owen Smith
The hon. Lady is entirely right. Even if 40% of women were unaware, that is 40% too many. As I said, five or six other surveys were done by academics and those in other institutions that suggested that 80% of women were unaware that they were going to be affected, so the reality is that the number was far greater.
The scale of this problem only truly started to dawn on people when the Government decided to double down on their calamity with the Pensions Act 2011.