Frank Yates-- Access Pro Bono's Clinic Coordinator-- successfully advocated on behalf of his widowed step-mother in a recent British sexual discrimination case regarding "frozen" retirement pensions. The case has positive implications for over 100,000 female pensioners worldwide.

In Alma Yates v. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (RP) [2011] UKUT 324 (AAC), a British Appeals Tribunal found that female pensioners like Alma Yates who received a "frozen" retirement pension based in whole or in part on their late husband's contributions, were attributed much smaller pension amounts than their male counterparts between 1994 and 2010. Ms. Yates' pension increased from 11 pounds per week to 75 pounds per week as a result of the Tribunal decision, and she was awarded compensation for past underpaid amounts. 

The British government has chosen not to appeal the decision, and thousands of female pensioners now stand to gain from its outcome. Read more about the decision and its implications in this Telegraph article.