- Conference
- 2016 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 25 February 2016
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the new single tier pension due to be introduced in April 2016 will fail to alleviate pensioner poverty not least because it is discriminatory against women.
It is generally impossible for women to accrue the same level of occupational and state pension as men because of low pay, part-time working, time off for childcare, caring for elderly relatives and poor long term health. Many low paid workers including some care workers, the majority of whom are women, are on zero-hours contracts and treated as self-employed, meaning their employer does not pay their National Insurance and most of these workers have no other form of pension.
This will be compounded as the number of contribution years will rise from 30 to 35 years and many more will be unable to accrue a full state pension.
Currently three quarters of all women pensioners live at or below the poverty line. The current basic state pension is £115. The proposed single tier pension is likely to be £150, well short of the £193 calculated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as necessary for a minimum standard of living.
Only 48% of women currently get a full state pension compared to 80% of men.
Furthermore, women born on or after 6 April 1953 will receive the new state pension but those born between 6 April 1951 and 6 April 1953 will not; despite men born within those dates being eligible. This discrimination is a result of earlier legislation to equalise the age at which men and women can draw the state pension.
Conference calls upon the National Executive Council to work with Labour Link, National Retired Members Committee and others including TUC National Pensioners Convention and Scottish Pensioners Forum to:
a)Raise awareness of the disparity between womens’ and mens’ pensions and the disproportionate impact on women of pensioner poverty;
b)Campaign to right this injustice.
