FORMER teacher Margaret Bryant is spearheading a campaign in Devizes to try and get fairer pensions for women caught up in a trap which means they will not receive their state benefit until six or seven years later than they expected.

Mrs Bryant, 61, who is backed by a number of other women from the town who also fall foul of new legislation, took the case to Devizes MP Claire Perry.

Mrs Bryant, who was deputy head of the old George Ward School in Melksham, decided to retire from teaching aged 55 after overseeing the move to the new campus at The Oaks.

She said: "It seemed like a good time for me leave teaching. I thought I would have five years doing some different things that I wanted to try and then I would get my state pension at 60.

"It was only a couple of years ago that I found out I would not qualify until I was 66."

She now works as a part-time travel courier but believes there was not sufficient publicity about the pension changes. She felt there had not been enough publicity about changes under the Pensions Act 1995 which legislated for changes to be brought in gradually after 2010 and even less when this was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

A pressure group WASPI is leading the battle to raise awareness about the unfairness of the changes. A petition it started under the heading 'Make fair transitional state pension arrangements for 1950’s women' has 132,000 signatures including 200 from the Devizes constituency.

There have been debates in both the Commons and Lords and the subject will be debated again in the House of Commons on February 1. MPs, mainly from the opposition ranks are calling for fairer transition arrangements to be put in place, specifically for women born in the 1950s who have been hardest hit by the changes.

WASPI points out that many of the women affected have been at work since the early 70s and have had to take time out to bring up children and care for elderly relatives. This, together with low wages, has meant that they haven't been able to contribute to private pensions and are dependent on the sate pension for their retirement.

But Mrs Perry this week said: "I firmly believe people who have worked hard all their lives deserve security in their retirement. That is why the Government has applied a 'triple lock' to the basic State Pension, which is now £1,100 per year higher than in 2010.

"For those reaching State Pension age after April 2016, a new State Pension is being introduced at a single, flat rate of £155.65, which will also be triple locked. All those women affected by the 2011 State Pension age changes will receive this new pension, which is much fairer to women than the current system and will mean 650,000 women will receive an average of £8 per week more in the first 10 years."

She said that bringing women's pensions into line with men's was necessary to meet the UK's obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision.

Mrs Perry said: "The Pensions Act 1995 legislated for this to be done gradually after 2010. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, the Government had to accelerate this process slightly in the Pensions Act 2011 to ensure that current workers can meet the cost of the sustainability of the system.

"The Government did listen to concerns raised at the time of the 2011 adjustment, and I am pleased that as a result the maximum increase was capped at 18 months relative to the 1995 timetable. That required funding of £1.1 billion, helping those women affected with the transition to a later State Pension age."