‘I’d love to stop working, but I continue to work one day a week for extra income’

Sheila Parker, 66, is a retail assistant from Northumberland.

Sheila is one of thousands of women born in the 1950s who had her state pension delayed without notice when the government changed the rules. ‘I only have a small workplace pension, so I needed my state pension to be able to afford to retire,’ she says. ‘I am now getting my state pension six years later than I expected, but I have to carry on working to build up the savings I used up.’ Sheila started getting her state pension in March 2020, but says with the six-year delay, she has not been able to stop work altogether. She is part of the Women Against State Pension Inequality group (WASPI), which is fighting the government for compensation for those women who had their pension payments delayed with little or no notice.

‘If the government gave us some kind of transitional payment, which is what WASPI is campaigning for, then I, like many other 1950s women, would be able to stop work properly and enjoy our retirement,’ says Sheila.