Rise in women's pension age 'unfair', says Age UK

One in five women aged between 50 and 53 expect to receive their state pension by 60, yet in reality they will have to wait until they are 65 under current rules, and 66 if proposals in the Pensions Bill being debated by MPs go ahead, a survey from Age UK finds.

This will affect women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 April 1960 under the reform proposals to speed up equalisation of the state pension age to 65 by 2018. The age at which the state pension can be collected will then rise to 66 for men and women by April 2020, six years earlier than planned. These changes could affect up to 330,000 women.

Age UK and other campaign groups believe the changes do not give women enough time to plan their retirement. "Thousands of women have contacted us because they are extremely worried about how these proposals will affect them, and very angry about the injustice of these plans," said Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK.

"Women have already had their state pension age changed once, and this latest proposed change is one step too far. Telling these women, at short notice, that they have to wait up to another two years to collect their state pension is unfair."