A GROUP of women from Basingstoke will head to London this month to join thousands of others at a demonstration against changes to their pensions.

Many of the women, who were all born in the 1950s, are facing financial hardship during their retirement after changes were made to the state pension retirement age, meaning they will not receive their state pension aged 60.

Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) was set up to campaign against these changes, imposed upon women born on of after April 6, 1951.

The 1995 Conservative Government's Pension Act included plans to increase women's State Pension Age (SPA) to 65, the same as men's.

But the implementation took place faster than promised giving little or no time for women affected to make alternative pension plans.

Whilst WASPI agrees with equalisation, it does not agree with the unfair way the changes were implemented.

The aim of the campaign is to achieve fair transitional state pension arrangements for women born in the 1950s, not for the pension age to revert back to 60.

Anne Todd, from Sherborne St John, is one of those affected.

The mother-of-two retired from her job in a travel agents last year, and said: "I had already planned to retire and I only got two years' notice of the change. They say you can get job seeker's allowance and get a full time job but that's not easy at our age. A lot of people in our age group were carers and they only did part time jobs and aren't fit enough to do a caring job until they are 66."

The 61-year-old a grandmother-of-three has met with other women from Basingstoke who will join her at the demonstration, and said some had been seriously affected.

She said: "Retirement plans have been shattered with devastating consequences."

The group will travel to the capital on June 29 where they will join others from across the country.

For more information visit waspi.co.uk.