Campaigner Furious After Government Rejects Compensation

A Market Harborough woman has hit out at the government for rejecting calls to compensate those affected by changes to the state pension age.

Sue Milne is one of the millions of women born in the 1950s who were not properly informed of the decision, leaving them out-of-pocket.

Sue Milne during a protest on the issue

Similar to the so-called Waspi group, she has been an active campaigner on the issue for many years, through her involvement with CEDAW (Convention to Eliminate Descrimination Against Women)

In 1995, the government increased the pension age for women from 60 to 65, phasing in the change between 2010 and 2020.

The coalition government of 2010 opted to speed up the process, bringing forward the qualifying age of 65 to 2018.

Women like Sue had made financial plans based on the old state pension age, retiring before realising they could not claim their pension.

She has accused members of the government of going back and their word and says the campaign for compensation will continue.

Sue told HFM how this week’s announcement has left her feeling:

The government has apologised for a delay in telling women born in the 1950s about the changes, but say £10.5 billion settlement would not ‘be fair or proportionate to taxpayers’.