Women's Pension Crisis

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 20th Apr 2005

Lib Dems pledge to increase the basic pension by £100

Research by the Liberal Democrats shows that many women face a gaping hole in their pension provision but the Labour Government has done nothing about it.

Many women in their forties and fifties are set to receive poor state pensions- in many cases as low as seven pence per week- because they paid National Insurance at the special married woman's rate. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 women in this area could be effected.

The Liberal Democrats' figures show that the vast majority of pensioners living in poverty are women.

Local Liberal Democrat parliamentary Candidate Dr Michael Heavens is calling on the Government to ensure that every woman receives a clear statement of her current entitlement, and for an increase on the basic pension to reduce pensioner poverty.