A HEARING in the Court of Appeal next week will have far-reaching implications for thousands of women in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Members of the Coventry and Warwickshire branch of Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) say the hearing, listed for Tuesday (July 21) and expected to last two days, is crucial for 48,500 women in the region who have been denied up to six years of the state pensions they paid into throughout their working lives.
The group was formed to oppose government changes to the state pension age introduced in 2011, which forced many women born in the 1950s to wait up to six extra years to get their pensions.
Because the government did not give the standard 10 years’ notice of this change, it affected these women’s retirement plans.
In June last year a case by the Back To 60 Campaign claiming the move was discriminatory on grounds of sex and age was rejected by the High Court.
A fresh hearing will now take place in the Court of Appeal.
Teresa Bowers of Coventry and Warwickshire WASPI said: “This is a more senior court. The justices have committed to looking at all the legal grounds again.
“We are very hopeful that this time the judgement will go in our favour.”
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