New research from the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign shows that changes to the State Pension age have had a ‘devastating’ impact on millions of women born in the 1950s. According to a survey of more than 7,000 WASPI women, approximately one-quarter have struggled to buy food or basic essentials in the last six months, with 45 per cent of women reporting they have been unable to pay household bills.
It also found that one in three older women have experienced debt in the last six months, with thousands of pensioners citing not knowing about increases to their State Pension age as a direct cause of their financial hardship.
More than 3.6million women across Great Britain are estimated to have missed out on State Pension payments due to a change in retirement age. Between April 2010 and November 2018, it rose from 60 to 65 for women, and in October 2020 it increased to 66 for both men and women.
