Pension age rise has cost me about £50k

MUM'S RETIREMENT PLANS WRECKED AFTER CANCER FORCED HER TO QUIT WORK EARLY

- SOPHIE HALLE-RICHARDS

SUE Jones always thought it would be time to relax and enjoy her retirement when she was 60 - having worked since she was 16.

But as the milestone birthday approached, life was very different. She was going through gruelling cancer treatment and figuring out how she was going to fund the next six years of her life, after discovering her state pension age had changed to 66.

The mum-of-two, from Gorton, completely lost her financial freedom and had to move in with her partner, as her breast cancer diagnosis a few years earlier forced her to stop working early.

Now, having turned 66 this week, Sue believes she's missed out on around £50,000 due to the changes implemented by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

She's one of thousands of WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women who have seen their retirement plans plunged into chaos, after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) increased the state pension age from 60 to 65 in 2010 and later 66.

WASPI women claim they have lost the opportunity to plan for their retirement, with some of the worst affected women only receiving a few months' notice of a six-year delay to their state pension.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman - the government watchdog has been investigating the DWP's handling of the issue for five years, with a first stage report, published two years ago, finding failings in the DWP's communication of State Pension age changes.