The £10,000 compensation that Waspi women could receive under a new bill would be a “lifeline” for many affected by the situation, according to mortgage broker Sharon Moore.
Speaking to FTAdviser, Moore - who herself is a Waspi woman - discussed how her life had been affected once she found out her pension age would be increasing from 60 to 65.
Moore has been a self-employed mortgage broker since 2008 and prior to that she was an IFA.
She described going to visit a client who worked for the DWP to talk about their mortgage.
“She asked me how old I was, I said 53 and she replied 'you’re going to be caught up in the pension change', that was the first I had heard about it,” Moore explained.
At first Moore thought her client had made a mistake and still thought her state pension would be paid at 60.
“When I realised I wasn’t going to get paid at 60, all I could do was keep calm and carry on as best as I could,” she added.
There are so many women living hand to mouth day in and day out Sharon MooreMoore explained while she has not always earned a lot, she has tried to “make it work” but highlighted for many Waspi women the effects are far worse.
She said: “I haven’t lived a lavish lifestyle but I have been able to cope, there are so many women who are living hand to mouth day in and day out.”
Moore said the increase in the state pension age will have an impact on her in retirement.
She explained: “If you have less money then there are less things you can spend money on, so it takes away some of the choices that you have. It makes you think more about what you can afford especially now with the cost-of-living crisis when everything is so expensive.
“This situation will impact me in retirement but I will be able to find a way around it, for a lot of women they won’t be able to, every Waspi womans’ circumstances and situation is different.”
£10,000 would be a big lifeline for those who have no funds at all Sharon MooreEarlier this month, MP Alan Brown called on the government to give compensation payouts of £10,000 or more to Waspi women affected by the state pension age issue as part of a new bill.
Moore said: “For those women who have no funds at all, £10,000 would be a big lifeline but for those who could do with more income it’s still nowhere near enough.
“Our industry talks a lot about the vulnerability of clients nowadays and if back then it was spoken about more, maybe the decisions the government made would have been different because having been an adviser myself, I can guarantee you if you speak to advisers now they will tell you the majority of their vulnerable clients are women.”
£10,000 not a 'fair remedy'
However, financial planner Darren Cooke does not think a blanket proposal to give every Waspi woman £10,000 would be a “fair remedy”.
He said: “This would be costly and much of it will go to those who have no need because they are already wealthy enough.”
Cooke said he was doubtful that any compensation should be made at all.
“The changes were made many, many years ago and well reported at the time and subsequently. Equalisation of retirement age at 65 was long overdue and increasing retirement age beyond 65 is expedient based on longevity increasing.
“If there needs to be a solution it should have been provided through other working age benefits such as income support or disability benefits,” he added.
According to Cooke, he has many clients who fall into the Waspi age group who were aware of the age increase and also had clients who didn’t know and were not particularly happy but were “accepting”.
One FTAdviser reader commented: “What should have happened is that all pension earned the date of the change were paid from age 60 and any earned after that payable from 65 - and again with the increase to 66 and to 67. That way there would have been no retrospective changes.”
alina.khan@ft.com
