‘I’m a Waspi woman – the pension age rise ruined final years with my dying husband’
It was during a chance telephone call to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) nine years ago that Susan Walsh discovered she wouldn’t be receiving her state pension when she turned 60, but would have to wait a further six years.
By that point, the 59-year-old, who had started working at the age of 16, had already taken early retirement so she could care for her terminally ill husband Henry.
“I was getting carer’s allowance for looking after my husband and I just phoned the DWP to see whether this would stop once I started getting my state pension at 60 in the December.
“The person at the DWP asked me what year I was born and when I told them 1955, they told me my state pension age had increased twice and I would now have to wait until 66.
“It was a real shock. I couldn’t believe it – I was absolutely gutted. It was the first I had heard of it. I went online and looked it up and found it was true.”
Ms Walsh, now 68, is one of the 3.8 million Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) born in the 50s who were affected by the change to the state pension age.
Last month, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman ruled that women affected by the changes are owed compensation by the Government, because the DWP failed to provide enough information about the changes.
Ms Walsh said she ended up having to sell her home twice and use up all her savings because of the increased pension age. She also feels the stress and worry ruined her last years with her late husband.
Ms Walsh, who was married to her husband for 35 years and has one daughter, worked as an accountant and the family were living in a flat in London.
Her husband suffered his first stroke in 2005, which left him with neurological problems.
Ms Walsh carried on working while looking after him. But in 2010, after Mr Walsh suffered another stroke, she took early retirement in order to care for him full-time.
“I was 55, coming up to 56 at the time so I was thinking it would only be a few more years until I got my state pension,” she said. “My husband was older than me so he was already getting his state pension and he also got disability living allowance.
“We were living in London at the time, but to free up a bit of money and to have a better quality of life, we sold up and moved to Essex.”
In 2013, Mr Walsh was diagnosed with rising fibrosis of the lung, an asbestos-related condition linked to his past work as a builder.
The couple were told the condition – which caused his lungs to constantly fill up with fluid that needed to be drained off – was incurable and would get progressively worse.
“My husband knew he wasn’t for this world much longer and he worried about how I would manage financially. I told him not to worry and that I would manage.
“But it did ruin my last few years with him as I knew I still had to wait to get my state pension and the fact that we were using all our savings affected our time together.
“I did think that maybe I could get a little part-time job for some extra money. But I have my own health issues as I am diabetic and have kidney problems.
“After all the years I worked, I wasn’t going to give up the last couple of years with my husband by going out and working.”
Mr Walsh died of pneumonia in 2017. Buy this time, the couple had used up most of their savings.
“Of course, my husband’s state pension stopped when he died,” Ms Walsh said. “In fact, he died on Sunday and his state pension was paid on Monday. On Friday, when his death had been registered, I got a letter telling me to pay that pension payment back – which I did.
“We both worked all our lives and you don’t expect to be treated that way and I felt really letdown.”
As the last of her savings dwindled, Ms Walsh was forced to to sell up again, and moved into a smaller home with her daughter, now 27.
“At the time when all this happened with the change in my pension age, my daughter was still at college,” said Ms Walsh. “Then my daughter left college and started an apprenticeship at work. But for the first two years, she earned very little money. So every bit of savings I had left went on keeping things together and paying the bills.”
Ms Walsh says if she had known about her state pension age rising in advance and had had plenty of notice, she could have made other arrangements, such as getting carers in to look after her husband instead of taking early retirement.
“Because of my husband’s situation and me receiving carer’s allowance, the DWP has always been aware of our address so cannot even claim they sent letters to another address,” she said.
“I worked in the world of accountancy and am not a silly woman, but I wasn’t aware of the change in pension age at all.
“It is all very cruel and it is upsetting to know how it affected my final years with my husband.
“I am not saying the change in pension age to bring it in line with men shouldn’t have happened, but I think it could have been phased in a lot better and we should have been told and given notice of it.
“Now that the judgment has been made for the Government to mess us about in the way they are is diabolical.
“If this had happened to men instead of women, they would never have got away with it. They thought we were a soft target. We deserve proper compensation.”
Angela Madden, chair of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign, said: “Hearing the experiences of Waspi women like Susan is a poignant reminder of the impact this injustice has had on our everyday lives.
“The ombudsman has made his recommendations clear. The injustice must end. We can see the collective power of Waspi women who are making their voices heard with more than 200,000 supporters demanding the Leader of the Commons holds an urgent vote in Parliament so compensation can be delivered without delay.
“With MPs returning to Westminster next week, Waspi women across the country will continue to assert pressure on those who have the power to make sure justice is achieved. We demand fast and fair compensation now.”
