Edinburgh East MP and Work and Pensions Select Committee member Sheila Gilmore today hit out at the current Tory-led Government’s pension changes after figures showed 2,900 local women are set to lose nearly £2,000.

House of Commons Library research released by Labour reveals the true cost of last week’s pensions reforms to 2,900 women in Edinburgh who are set to lose out.

2,900 local women born in 1952 and 1953 will not be eligible for the single tier pension since they are due to retire in 2017, before the state pension reforms come into effect. Men born during the same period, however, will qualify.

The news comes after the Government claimed that “we have to be absolutely transparent [about who will lose]” yet he failed to make clear the full consequences of the planned reforms.

The unravelling of this latest Pensions announcement is the second time this government has been caught trying to hide the full impact of its changes for pensioners following the Granny Tax.

Sheila Gilmore said:

Ministers have been caught red-handed hiding the truth on pensions reforms.

This government’s pensions changes have hit hardworking women in Edinburgh time and again and these reforms are no different. 2,900 women will be nearly £2,000 worse off compared to men, but instead of being honest with the women that will lose out this government tried to bury the truth.

Once again Ministers have been caught with their hands in pensioners pockets – it’s about time this government had the decency to be honest about who will lose out under their plans.

Notes to Editors:

• Women born between April 1952 and July 1953 will retire before 2017 and will not be eligible for the single tier pension. For example, a woman born in October 1952 will retire at age 63 in 2015. This means that she will draw the basic weekly pension of £107.45 (in today’s prices) when she retires.
• However, men born in the same period are due to retire in 2017, and so will be eligible for the new single-tier rate.
• House of Commons Library research shows that 430,000 women born between April 1952 and July 1953 could lose out in this way.
• The House of Commons Library estimates this will mean that 2,900 women in the five Edinburgh constituencies will be affected.
• This could mean that women draw a state pension income of around £1,900 a year (£36.55 a week) less than a man of the same age. The exact difference will depend on the number of contributions each woman has made, and whether she receives means-tested benefits or not.
• See figures below:

• Sheila Gilmore is a member of the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee. You can view the committee’s website here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/work-and-pensions-committee/
• For more information please contact Matt Brennan, Parliamentary Assistant to Sheila Gilmore MP, on 020 7219 7062, 07742 986 513 or matthew.brennan@parliament.uk.