‘Degrading’ Pension wait leaves woman, 65, relying on benefits
CHELTENHAM woman Helen Kemp says she feels “degraded” after being forced to sign up to Universal Credit at the age of 65.
After working for more than 40 years and suffering a series of bereavements in quick succession she was looking forward to collecting her state pension in July this year.
But when she contacted the Department of Work and Pensions in August to ask why the paperwork had not arrived, she learned the rules had changed again and she would have to wait until July 2021 when she turns 66.
Now she is one of hundreds of older women in Gloucestershire forced to rely on out-of-work benefits because the state pension age has risen.
Across the county the number of women over 60 claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, Universal Credit, Income Support or Incapacity nearly tripled after the changes came in.
Now the coronavirus pandemic looks set to make the situation even worse because it has wiped out many roles in areas such as retail.
“I knew the age had gone up to 65 because I had a letter saying I could claim in 2020,” said Helen, who was a projectionist at the Odeon in Cheltenham for 25 years before becoming a home help.
“When they said it had changed to 66 and I had to wait another year, my heart just sank.
“One of my last jobs was looking after a lady who sadly passed away in June and not many people want home helps in the middle of a pandemic.
“I still have bills to pay so there’s nothing else to do but sign up for Universal Credit.”
The news was another devastating blow for Helen who moved back to her home town of Cheltenham in 2014 to care for her mother after spending time living in Scotland.
Within two years she had lost her own mother, a friend’s mother, her partner and her home. She now shares a rented cottage in Prestbury.
She also lost her devoted chocolate Labrador Gemma.
Over the decades Helen has done everything from caring to cleaning and dog walking, and says whenever she hit a lull and feared she would be out of work something always turned up.
Although she suffers from a bad back, the result of an accident at work, and other health issues it is the change to the pension age coupled with the pandemic that finally forced her to spend three hours applying for Universal Credit.
Even now she is unsure how much she will get to top up her meagre wages from two small home help jobs.
She has to fill in a journal by the 10th of every month recording how much she has earned and what steps she has taken to find more work. Then on the 13th she finds out what she will receive, if anything, four days later.
“The guy at the Jobcentre said, ‘Why aren’t you receiving your pension?,’” she said.
“It seems that even people who work for the Government can’t understand why they will pay benefits to us, but not our pensions.
“It’s downright degrading.” Hilary Simpson, of Cheltenham’s Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) says the number of women like Helen in Gloucestershire has soared in recent years and is set to go up further.
She said: “These figures are for May 2019 and predate the pandemic, so we can only imagine how much worse things have become since then.”
“It has never been easy for women in their 60s to find a new job, and this is especially true now that jobs in the retail and hospitality sectors are disappearing.
“In any event, such jobs – along with those in education, health and social care – expose vulnerable older women to increased risk from Covid-19.”
She says if women want to retire it makes way for the young. Applying for benefits mean whole families suffer because means-tested Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance are based on household rather than individual income.
“This means that many 1950s-born women who find themselves out of
If you have prided yourself on your financial independence during your working lifetime, this indignity is hard to swallow Hilary Simpson
work will go through the humiliation of applying for benefits only to find that they don’t even qualify, but will be told to ask their partners or other household members for financial support,” she said.
“If you have prided yourself on your financial independence during your working lifetime, this indignity is hard to swallow.”
“Means-tested benefits are extremely costly to administer compared to the state pension – wouldn’t it be simpler to give these women their pensions now, and release resources to support younger people? As the employee at the Jobcentre said to Helen, ‘Why aren’t you getting your pension?’ Why indeed?”