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Waspi pensioner loses out on £50,000 while battling breast cancer | Personal Finance | Finance

A Waspi (Women against state pension inequality) generation woman who is turning 66 says she has missed out £50,000 in state pension payments.

Sue Jones told the Manchester Evening News about how she struggled financially after being forced to give up work as she was having cancer treatment.

She was set to retire at 60 having worked all her life since she was 16 and so was shocked to learn she would be retiring at 66, when the state pension age for women was increased to be in line with men.

She decided to keep on working beyond 60 but was then diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

By the time she was 62, she was no longer able to work because of the drugs she was taking for her treatment.

She said: “I had to give up my own independence and move in with my partner so that I could afford to stop working.

“That was a big shock as I’d always been financially independent. I wasn’t ever expecting to have to work another six years.”

The woman, from Gorton, turns 66 this week and believes she has missed out on £50,000 in state pension payments.

She started working at age 16 with a job in the civil service and then got a degree and went on to be a teacher.

She said a lot of people of her age didn’t have “proper careers” as they were expected to be home looking after the children.

Ms Jones said: “We didn’t get proper maternity pay, we got a grant from the Government. I dread to think what I paid in childcare.

“You were just constantly fighting to get where you wanted to be. I’ve had to live on my lump sum which should have been for me to enjoy. I’ve had to make a big dent in that to get me through the next few years.”

Ms Jones said she is in fact one of the lucky ones as she sees stories of other women of her age who are in much worse situations.

She said: “You go to your local Tesco and it’s all women my age who should be retired. If you haven’t got a company pension and they are just waiting for the state pension; some of them don’t even make it.”

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