As women born in the 1950s face an anxious wait for the outcome of a court case they hope will bring them pension justice, a Meirionnydd woman believes the government should rethink retirement age.

Lorraine Thomas believes the pension age should be lowered to help the country recover from lockdown.

“You talk about giving everyone vouchers to spend in the shops, 50 per cent off meals out, you have furloughed workers, you are giving grants to the self-employed and increased benefits, but there is such an obvious solution to this problem staring everyone in the face,” she said.

“Reduce pension age. Let the over-60s have their pension they have contributed to for 45 to 51 years.

“The Treasury has already received their contributions and their employers’ contributions. The money is there, this would not cost the taxpayer a penny as these contributions are paid to qualify for their pension.

“By releasing the over-60s from the workforce you will free up jobs for youngsters leaving education and young families who are struggling to find meaningful employment and are reliant on benefits.

“Over-60s’ health deteriorates. They cannot manage physical work like they used to. Let us not forget also that the World Health Organisation advised that over-60s should be protected as they are at high risk of Covid.

“One reason given for increasing the pension age was ‘a sharp increase in life expectancy’, which is no longer the case, especially as women have seen their pension hike by a full six years. Over 90,000 women have died before they reached their new pension age – this was before the threat of Covid.”