Members of Parliament will today discuss plans whether to increase the female retirement age to 66, in a move that has caused much controversy since plans were first announced.
Chancellor George Osborne outlined plans last year that stated the government’s intention to accelerate the alteration of the age at which females would receive state pension in order to match that of men, which is currently 65.
This would be completed by November 2018, rather than the April 2020 approximation made by the previous Labour government. The extra time created would be used to raise both genders’ pension age to 66.
The proposals have come under much scrutiny from all sides; so much so that over 170 parliament members have signed a commons motion calling for a reassessment over whether or not the plans should be put into practice. These include backbenchers from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, as well as Labour.
The move has been cited as unfair on around 330,000 women in their late 50’s, who would have to keep on working. Critics have called this too short notice for people, if the plans remain to keep November 2018 as the date that the alterations are made.
The general consensus amongst members of parliament is that the plans are unfair to women of a certain age and that altering the cut off at such short notice would be a massive injustice.
However at a time when this coalition government seems to be u-turning on a number of its plans and manifestoes, another may add to their growing signs of weakness. The increasing animosity towards the move however may leave the government in a catch-22 situation.
Were the plans to continue as initially stated then animosity would continue to grow towards them and trust may be broken, were they to retract the plans then their inability to cement plans would be seized upon by critics and opponents.
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