State pension changes for women have provoked an angry backlash as the government refuses to change course on the measure.
Now, a group of protestors from Wales have raised enough cash to take the fight back to the High Court.
Ceredigion Women Against State Pension Injustice – WASPI – are seeking approval to appeal a decision that rejected their pleas to change the policy in June.
“We were rather shell-shocked when we heard the decision, but we vowed to carry on our struggle to get justice,” said WASPI joint co-ordinator Helen Lyall Williams, who chaired a meeting of the Ceredigion WASPI Steering Group last week.
“We are convinced that the 5,000 women in Ceredigion born in the 1950s who have been cheated out of several years of the pensions they paid into, have been treated unfairly.
Strength of feeling among women
“We have contributed to the cost of the legal fees for permission to appeal the decision. We heard yesterday that enough money had been raised.
“The request for permission to appeal the decision has been lodged with the High Court.
“The speed with which the target was met shows the strength of feeling among 1950s women and their supporters.”
The group is awaiting a date from the courts.
The court has already ruled that the decision to raise the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 in line with men and to 66 in 2020 was not discrimination against women.
No argument about retirement age equality
The case was brought to court by protest groups representing an estimated 3.8 million women born in the early to mid-1950s who claimed the change to the state pension entitlement age was unfair because they did not have time to adjust their financial arrangements to cover years when they did not receive the state pension they expected.
The government argues that reversing the policy would cost the country £215 billion.
In court, the campaign groups agree that men and women should have the same state retirement age, but that the changes should have been better communicated so women were not left without income.
Find out more about WASPI
Follow the links below to find out more about Women Against State Pension Injustice:
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WASPI documentary
Watch the ACTV WASPI documentary below: