Women’s state pension age will be equal to men’s state pension age from Tuesday the 6 November, after legislation was first passed in 1995.

However, SavvyWoman.co.uk founder, Sarah Pennells, has said that “women still retire on less than men and rely on the state pension more”. Figures from the Chartered Insurance Institute show that men have five times more in their pensions than women at 65.

“Hundreds of thousands of women have suffered financially because of the decision to raise their state pension age to 65, and – more importantly – the failure of successive governments to tell the women who were affected,” Pennells said. “The state pension age will be 66 in less than two years, and, in that time, many more women born in the 1950s will lose out.”

Pennells said that she used to think that the decision to raise the state pension age for women to 65 was the right one, but the lack of notice to the women affected was “appalling”. However, she has since changed her mind.

“A woman’s prospects at retirement are based on the workplace looking back over the last 40 years, not looking forward. And, as there wasn’t equality of opportunity for 1950s women, I think the state pension age for women shouldn’t have been increased to 65 without the introduction of targeted help for those who couldn’t make up the shortfall.

“Even if women had been given the full 15 years’ notice of a rise in their state pension age, it would have only helped those who could afford to save extra to make up the difference. And many of these women couldn’t.”

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