On 10 October, 1950s-born women and their supporters will travel from all over the UK to Parliament Square in London to stand shoulder to shoulder and protest about the loss of up to six years’ state pension, for many a sum of over £40,000. We received little or no notice – in my case three years – that the pension we were to rely on at age 60 would not be there.
Some 3.8 million women are affected. It would have been unimaginable that such a large slice of the population could be cheated out of the state pensions that they had paid into all their working lives – if it weren’t true! This is a timebomb ignored by successive governments. It can be sidestepped no longer by those in charge.
It’s time for Theresa May – herself born in the 1950s – and her government to do the decent thing and pay up.
Pamela Judge
Newcastle Emlyn, Ceredigion
• I have just received a letter from the Pension Service telling me that, as it is my 80th birthday this month, I am entitled to a higher amount of state pension. Imagine my excitement! Then I read that the addition will be 25p a week. I was going to write and ask how this is calculated – but I would have to save up for over two weeks to pay for the stamp. I thought I would buy a coffee to celebrate instead – but I would have to save up for nearly two months to pay for that. So how can I use my pension increase to enhance my quality of life as an 80-year-old?
Judith Abbs
London
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