AROUND 4,000 local women have been “shafted” by Government changes to their state pension threshold, which has seen many losing out on tens of thousands of pounds after learning at short notice they now have to work, in some cases, for an extra five years or more. 

Wilma Grey from Enniskillen was the only woman from the whole of the North to travel to a Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) protest at Westminster, last Wednesday, June 29. However, she is one of 4,000 women in their late 50s and early 60s who are affected in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

“A lot of women weren’t aware of what has happened as a lot of people my age aren’t on social media, so it needs more attention,” explained Wilma, who is currently the only WASPI woman in Fermanagh, but is working on setting up a branch of the group in the county. 

“There were two-and-a-half thousand of us at the protest, and we were joined by 60 MPs, but there would’ve been so many more but there were women couldn’t make it because they couldn’t afford to travel, they’re too ill, they’re carers, or they were working.”

At last week’s protest, Wilma was joined by five MPs from the North – Fermanagh’s Tom Elliott, Gavin Robinson, Danny Kinahan, Nigel Dodds, and Mark Durkan, who is vice-chairman of the APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) for WASPI. 

WASPI were protesting over inconsistencies in plans to bring women’s retirement age into line with men, with some women being harder hit that others depending on their age. They are also angry this plan, which was supposed to be in place by 2020, was fast tracked in 2011, and many of the 2.4 million women affected were not informed until they had almost reached 60, the age they had believed they could retire at. 

Wilma herself had previously been entitled to her pension at 60-years-old, and only found out, by accident when she contacted the pension office on another matter, when she was 58 that she would not be receiving it until 65. 

“So many people’s dreams have been shattered,” said Wilma. “Some of us are living off savings, some of us don’t have any savings and have been told to apply for JSA. They are then having to travel to potential jobs they know they won’t get just to conform to the JSA requirements. Others, like myself, are still working.”

Explaining how, depending on when exactly they were born, the changes affected everyone differently, Wilma said: “We feel the Government has been picking on the most vulnerable. We had to give up our jobs when we got married, and there was no equal pay back then so we couldn’t pay into an occupational pension. They are picking on us now because we’re not on social media to kick up a fuss.

“We were people heading into our twilight years and were looking forward to retiring with our pensions.”

Wilma, who urged women to use the Internet to find out more about the pension changes, is currently in the process of setting up a local WASPI group, and can be contacted at waspi.fermanaghtyrone@gmail.com.