WASPI woman says ‘confidence in gutter’ after state pension age change

Many women born in the 1950s saw their state pension age changes from 60 to 65, and subsequently 66. While large numbers do not take issue with age equalisation with men, some have argued they were not provided with ample notice and have suffered financially and emotionally since.

One woman, who only wished to be referred to as ‘Annie’, said a series of personal tragedies had further impacted the difficulty of a changing state pension age.

Annie told Express.co.uk how her personal circumstances spiralled some 34 years ago, after her mother was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

As well as working full time, Annie was caring for her parents, and juggling her bills, and she says she was rushed into hospital with heart problems.

Giving up work to care for her parents, Annie said she decided not to claim Carer’s Allowance as it meant her mother could lose out on the Attendance Allowance she had qualified for earlier that year.

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However, she added: “Naively, and because of the stress I was under, I didn’t realise at the time this would affect my National Insurance contributions at a later date.”

When her mother passed away in 1994, and her father died 10 months later, Annie was left bereaved and struggling to cope.

She said: “Even if the 1995 Pensions Act had been widely broadcast, I would certainly have been oblivious to it. My head was all over the place.”

Annie’s personal life was dealt further blows with the death of her husband in 2016, and the death of her brother four months later.

“Yet, they did not see fit to inform me personally that I would be losing around £50,000 and would have to continue working for another six years.

“Surely, this change to my personal and financial well-being is of equal, if not greater importance as a tax change?”

Annie has stressed she has “no issue with the need for equalisation” but says she struggles with the “lack of notification from the Government”.

She added: “Imagine you were approaching your 60th birthday, expecting to end your working days, if, indeed you have a job, and then to find that you have to work another six years, or you now have to start looking for work?

“The injustice of how poorly we 1950s woman have been treated is appalling. You have to have been living with this injustice to fully appreciate its full implications.”

A DWP spokesperson previously told Express.co.uk: “The Government decided over 25 years ago it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women. Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP under successive governments dating back to 1995 and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.”