Affected by the changes to women's pension age?

Simonne brings us up to date on the changes to women's pensions: 

Many women are not so happy about the planned changes....

Women's finances have been in the news again recently.

As we know the age at which women qualify for a state pension is gradually increasing.  And the government has proposed to bring forward the change to retirement age faster than originally planned (as we reported in our Sheconomics February blog).

Back in October 2010, the government announced that it would bring forward the date that the state pension age would become 66 for men and women. This caused widespread concern that it would unfairly impact on women already in their late 50s. Many would have to work up to two years longer than they had planned for.

The latest news is that the Government have responded by postponing these changes for 6 months (to October 2010, instead of April 2010) so that the maximum delay that women will experience will be 18 months instead of two years.

While this is some concession, 18 months is still a long time to wait, with little time between now and state retirement age to plan how to make up for that financial loss.

If you feel that the state pension age rise is unfair and would like to do something about it, Saga are asking for signatures on their petition to lobby the government on these proposed changes to the state pension age.

Click here for an online calculator to help you work out when you're likely to reach state pension age under current rules.

Still confused? If you need a money coach don't forget to check out Simonne's website.