Commenting today (Thursday) on the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on changes to the state pension age for women, UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:
“Raising the state pension age, with barely any notice, was catastrophic for a whole generation of women. It left their retirement plans in tatters.
“It’s only right the thousands of women left in dire financial straits are given compensation now. This has all taken far too long.
“Recognition of this appalling injustice is entirely down to the remarkable resilience of all the women who’ve campaigned over many years for this pension wrong to be righted.
“Those on low incomes have been particularly hard-hit. Some have been forced to sell their homes and endured dreadful poverty.
“The government must move swiftly to find the money to correct this terrible mistake.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
