I want my pension age 60 – the important Pensions Appeal case is lost !
15 September 2020
The important, landmark case of Delve and Glynn, which started at the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) on 21 July 2020, has been lost.
The Court of Appeal has found against the case and the disappointing judgment was handed down this morning.
In 2019, Julie Delve, 61, and Karen Glynn, 63 - supported by campaign group Backto60 - took the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to court for discrimination, arguing that raising their pension age unlawfully discriminated against them on the grounds of age and sex, and that they were not given adequate notice of the changes. Since 2019, the two brave women have been fighting the injustice of a higher pension retirement age following its unplanned introduction between 1995 and 2014. The appeal court hearing has been heard and found against them. See our earlier article in full…
This important appeal case surrounds the discrimination and unfairness to women of the series of government Pensions Acts between 1995 and 2014 which equalised the state pension age for women with that of men, by raising the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 (and then raised the age at which both men and women can claim their state pension). See the case: Delve and another -v- The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
The introduction of this series of Pensions Acts has left many women born in the 1950s with:
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An inadequate pension to live on (they had planned that the government would be paying their state pension allowance from age 60 which hasn’t happened); or
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The need to continue to work past the age of 60 to compensate for the loss of state pension.
Lawson-West’s employment lawyer, Carrie-Ann Randall said of the judgment:
“This is a real blow to women who were born in the 1950s and whilst attempting to equalise State Pension Age (SPA) and make a level-playing field for both men and women, the government has made it very hard for a group of women in the UK to manage without their state pension for a number of years. The legislation’s attempt to be equal has in fact created inequality in certain age groups of women.
Women have been fighting discrimination for over 100 years and any misalignment and discrimination has to be questioned, and although the courts have not found in their favour in this particular judgment, it remains that many women are affected by the new pensions legislation and many have unfairly lost-out because of it.”
The Judgment found:
“The Court unanimously dismisses the appeal, holding that adopting the same state pension age for men and women does not amount to unlawful discrimination under either EU law or the Human Rights Convention. The Court considers whether there is any legal obligation on the Respondent to notify people of the change to their pension age and holds that in any event the Divisional Court was entitled to conclude on the evidence that the publicity campaign implemented by the DWP had been adequate and reasonable.”
Public sector union, UNISON’s assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said today,
“It’s now time MPs intervened to give them the financial help many so desperately need.”
Useful Links
Find out more about this case:
The Judgment from the Court of Appeal
Women Against State Pension Age (WASPI)
The October 2019 Ruling – Michael Mansfield QC
Judicial Review hearing is granted
View all
