Urgent action needed to stop the scandal of women pensioners living in poverty

One in every four single women pensioners lives in poverty because the current pensions system penalises women for caring for their families, a TUC conference was told yesterday.

During an emergency motion on pensions at the TUC Women's Conference in Eastbourne, Christine Watkins, from Newport in South Wales, who was speaking on behalf of her trade union Usdaw, said: "Trade unions have fought hard for better pensions, but there is still much to do. One in four single women pensioners live in poverty. For every pound a man earns from a pension, a woman gets 32 pence and we have on average only half the retirement income of a man."

Usdaw moved an emergency motion calling on the TUC to express its concern that the Pensions Bill, published in February, has not addressed the problems of women and pensions. The motion called on the TUC to campaign for changes to the National Insurance system, in order to widen pension provision for women. The motion said the campaign should focus on:

• Lowering the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) to bring more women into pension entitlement.

• Add earnings from more than one job together for National Insurance purposes.

• Extend Home Responsibilities Protection for carers to cover part years and less than full-time caring.

• Allow women who have gaps in contribution years more opportunity to buy back into the National Insurance scheme.

• Award pro-rata pensions where contributions are less than the current 25 per cent minimum required.

Christine Watkins said: "A reduction of just £17 [in the LEL] would mean an extra 570,000 women would benefit. We want women to be properly credited for state pension entitlement, whether they are low paid, part-time, caring for others or, more often than not, a combination of all three."

Usdaw, which has a 16-strong delegation attending the TUC Women's Conference, also spoke today in seconding a separate composite motion on globalisation. The motion called on the TUC to devise a strategy to campaign against exploitation of women workers in developing countries.

Jan Jervis, from Liverpool, a member of both Usdaw's Executive Council and National Women's Committee, told the conference: "Sixty to ninety per cent of workers at the end of the global supply chain are women. Women working unpaid overtime, in unhealthy conditions and unsafe environments. Risking their health every day with no entitlement to sick or maternity pay. And why are so many women risking their health and welfare in this way? Because they are not in a position to say no."

Notes to Editors:

• Usdaw is the UK's fifth largest trade union with over 330,000 members. More information and news releases are available at our online Newsroom.

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