Workington MP Sue Hayman has joined colleagues to form a new all party parliamentary group on the state pension age.

The group will support women hit by the acceleration of the equalisation of the state pension age, first in 1995 and then in 2011.

In the Workington area, around 3,750 women are directly affected by the 2011 Pensions Act alone.

More than 200 local residents signed the e-petition calling for transitional arrangements, which received almost 200,000 signatures nationwide.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) is lobbying the Government to introduce transitional arrangements for those women affected, many of whom were not notified about the changes and took early retirement, leaving them with no income.

The parliamentary group will work closely with the WASPI campaign and new Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb.

Mrs Hayman said: "We are not seeking to apportion blame to anybody. We simply want to get the best outcome for these women, many of whom have worked hard for decades without taking a penny out of the system.

"I hope that the new Work and Pensions Secretary will be receptive to our concerns, and that we will soon have the equitable outcome that the WASPI women deserve."