Opposition Day — [19th Allotted Day] — Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:33 pm on 24 February 2016.

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Photo of Owen Smith Owen Smith Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 1:33, 24 February 2016

That is an extremely common experience for MPs, because the letters sent out in 1995 by the then Tory Government were neither use nor ornament. I have got one here that was sent to a woman on 13 June 1995. This letter has five pages, and not one of them mentions that the pension age is going to rise to 65. In fact, every single page refers to the fact that the state pension age for women is 60. The final page offers the extraordinary suggestion that

“a form inviting you to claim your State Retirement Pension will be sent to you” a few

“months before you reach 60.”

This happened in the very month that the Bill that became the 1995 Act was going through this House under that Government. That is a measure of what a desperately poor job they did of informing people.