Angela Rayner said millions of women have been plunged into poverty because of changes to the pension age made in 2011.
Analysis
The shadow education secretary was promoting Labour’s plan to compensate the Waspi women (women against state pension inequality) affected by changes to the women’s pension age introduced in 1995 and 2011.
It is likely the policy has increased poverty, but not by anywhere near “millions”. There are not millions of women aged 60-64 in Great Britain in poverty and the best estimates suggest about 300,000 to 350,000 in this age group are in relative low income.
There is no evidence that millions of women have been plunged into poverty because of the 2011 Act.
It is also unlikely that millions will be plunged into poverty once the law has been fully implemented.
Verdict
This is an exaggeration. We don’t know the exact number but it is likely to be substantially lower.
Full Fact is the UK’s independent factchecking organisation. For sources and more factchecks go to fullfact.org
