Barbara Keeley MP will head up a new cross-party Parliamentary group to support women badly affected by changes to the State Pension age.
Hundreds of thousands of women will be hit by a rise in the pensionable age, with some born in the 1950s having to wait six years longer than they thought to retire.
According to new government rules, between April 2016 and December 2018 the age at which they can draw a pension increases to 65.
By December 2020 it will be 68. Then by 2028 the age for both men and women rises to 68.
The state pension age for men was set at 65, and 60 for women.
Figures from the House of Commons Library show that around 8,000 women in Salford, 98,000 in Greater Manchester and 284,000 in the North West will be affected by the changes.
Now several hundred thousand women born in the 1950s have had their retirement plans set back by state pension age increases.
Ms Keeley, who represents Worsley and Ecccles South, says the women affected were given little or no notice at all, leaving them with no time to make alternative plans and plunging many into uncertainty, worry and financial hardship.
Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb is overseeing the changes. Worryingly, he has told Parliament that women affected are unlikely to be offered financial relief.
Ms Keeley will chair the new All-Party Parliamentary Group for WASPI – set up to support the Women Against State Pension Age Inequality (WASPI) campaign.
MPs will use the Group as a forum to hold the Government to account and to offer support for the WASPI campaign.
Barbara said: “Thousands of women born in the 1950s have been treated very badly with these changes. The women affected are being forced to bear the burden of the increase to State Pension Age without any help or support from the Government.”
“A number of constituents affected in Worsley and Eccles South have told me that the Government’s failure to communicate the changes, provide adequate notice or offer any transitional support has led to them suffering real financial hardship.
“There is now widespread support among MPs for measures to help the 1950s-born women to secure justice.
“On the first day, over 120 MPs from all parties joined the new All-Party Parliamentary Group for WASPI. We aim to hold the government to account and find the best outcome we can for the women affected by these major changes to the State Pension Age.
“I will work with MPs from all parties so that we can find a way to help the 1950s-born women get the support they deserve.”
