The government have announced that it will delay rises to the state pension age to help out women worst hit by the recently proposed changes.
The plan to raise the state pension age to 65 by 2018 and then 66 by 2020 would have meant some women waiting an extra two years for their state pension.
Critics said that as many as 330,000 women could have been affected and that this was unfair as it gave those worst affected little time to make alternative arrangements.
Change
However welfare secretary, Iain Duncan Smith (pictured), has announced that this will now be reduced to 18 months. The second rise will now be delayed from April 2020 to October 2020.
Mr Duncan Smith said: “We have listened to the concerns of those women most affected by the proposed rise in state pension age to 66 and so we will cap the increase to a maximum of 18 months. We have always made clear that we would manage any change fairly and ensure any transition is as smooth as possible.”
Speaking separately to the BBC Mr Duncan Smith also said: “What we have done is to invest money to make sure that [the delay in getting a pension] is capped at a maximum of 18 months”
He continued: “That will free up a lot of women, I hope, from their concerns and worries. We have listened to them and I hope that people believe we have acted well.”
The change is likely to cost the government £1 billion which will be paid for out of the £30 billion of savings generated from equalising the state pension age and also increasing the age from when it is paid.
