PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
SUPPORT WOMEN AGAINST PENSIONS POVERTY CAMPAIGN (10 July 2002)

That this House notes that a majority of today's poorest pensioners are women; further notes that among people coming up to state pension age, the majority of those with poor rights to both state and private sector pensions are women; recognises that many women with poor state pension rights at some stage paid national insurance contributions at the reduced rate for married women; is concerned that many such women report that the consequences of this option were not fully explained at the time, and that the scope for buying back missing years of contribution is very limited; is further concerned that many women only discover that they have very state low pension rights when they are close to state pension age; calls on the Government to write to all women below pension age whose national insurance contribution record is incomplete because of payment of the married women's contribution to advise them of their current and future pension entitlement; further calls on the Government to investigate the historic operation of the system of married women's contributions and to consider whether any form of redress might be appropriate for such women; and welcomes the launch of the Support Women Against Pensions Poverty campaign, whose aim is to ensure that present and future generations of women pensioners do not have to live in poverty in old age.

Sponsored by:
Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat)