Government U-turn on women’s pension age but millions still to lose out

The UK coalition government has announced that it is to delay the planned increase in state pension age to 66 until October 2020.

The government had planned to accelerate the raising of the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 in 2018, two years earlier than previously planned. The changes announced yesterday mean that the maximum amount of women will have is now 18 months instead of two years.  Although the move will benefit 245,000 women, 2.3 million women across the UK will still lose out as they struggle to make alternative plans for their retirement on very little notice.   

Many of the women affected, who are currently in their late 50s, are already seriously disadvantaged when it comes to pensions, especially those who work part-time. Most of the women will have earned less over their lifetime, have less savings, and less of a pension than men of the equivalent age. Many of the women will also have had interrupted careers due to taking time out to care for children, which means they will have vast holes in their pension pots. Many will also not have had access to company pension schemes.