Thousands of women have had their pension age raised from 60 to 65. Now Labour is making a £58bn pledge to compensate them
Ten years ago Catherine Williams made a big decision: in order to spend more time with her family, she would reduce her hours as a nurse and take a pay cut at the age of 55. The move was based on the assumption that she would be entitled to her state pension at 60. “I did fewer hours and voluntarily went down to a staff nurse level,” said Williams, from Barrow-in-Furness. “Unfortunately, I shouldn’t have really done that. At 62, I just couldn’t do it any longer. I was expected to do 13-hour shifts, work nights. So I left work without my state pension.”
Williams, 65, who worked as a nurse from the age of 16 and had paid national insurance contributions for more than 40 years, is among the worst affected of the women born in the 1950s who have seen their retirement age rise by up to six years. She calculates she is more than £40,000 out of pocket, not including the perks that come with retirement, such as free bus passes.
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