Revamp pension system to help women, government told

Revamp pension system to help women, government told

	Published : Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:35 By : Cedric Benson Print this Story

LONDON: The Equal Opportunities Commission has called for a revamp of Britain's pension system to cover carers and people looking after children. The Commission, which carried out a survey, found that the current system has loopholes, which lead to situation where women in particular are affected. It said there is "anger and concern" over the existing system and support for a revamp so that women are helped.

In response to the findings by the Commission, a coalition of groups, comprising the TUC, Age Concern and Women's Pension Network, has urged for steps to end the inequalities in the pension system. The coalition also referred to a recent warning by the department of work and pensions that more than two million women in the country are not building up entitlement for any basic state pension.

The Commission wanted the new work and pensions secretary John Hutton to address the issue immediately. Stating that in modern world where women remain unmarried or their marriages end in divorces, the commission's chairperson Jenny Watson said there is need for a new system that "puts independence and equality at its heart and rewards the crucial work done by parents and carers".

Most of the 2,000 respondents to the Commission's survey felt women should have their own individual pension rights and not have to rely on their husbands or partners.

Meanwhile, Age Concern and the Fawcett Society are campaigning at the National Women and Pensions Debate in Manchester Monday for reforms in the pension system. Hutton and women's minister Tessa Jowell are attending the debate.

The two organisations pointed out that for every pound received by men in a pensioner couple, women receive less than 34 pence. Additionally one in five female single pensioners lives in poverty.

Kate Bellamy of the Fawcett Society said the government must end the scandal of women's pensions so that another generation of women are not condemned to live our their retirement in poverty as their mothers and grandmothers before them.