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Valerie Bowman left a full-time council job for holiday work, hoping to retire at 60. But at 63, she is unsure when her retirement will be
Thursday, 24th October 2019, 9:04 am
Valerie Bowman would have made different life choices if she’d known she would have to wait an extra six years to access her state pension.
The main one being that the 63-year-old would not have accessed a private pension about 12 years ago. That decision is part of the reason she is now having to work in a manual job she finds physically exhausting until she reaches 66 and gets her state pension.
She, like many other women born in the 1950s who have been affected by the increases to the state pension age, says she found out about the changes far too late and is now living with the consequences.
Valerie, from Warrington, was 56 – five years after she claimed her private pension and had quit a secure job – when she says she discovered the pension changes.
Reflecting on her situation, she tells i: “I definitely wouldn’t have taken my [private] pension when I did. That would have been sufficient for me to retire now. It was a really good pension.
“I wouldn’t have loads of money but I would have been at the same stage as I am now, working.”
What has changed about the state pension age?
The Government’s move to equalise the state pension age to 65, in line with men, has meant women are having to wait years after they expected to retire for their state pension.
The state pension age is in the process of moving to 66 and will continue to increase over the next few decades.
Many women born in the 1950s say they were never notified about the state pension age changes, but the Government says they were “clearly communicated”. These women say state pension age changes are causing them emotional stress and financial hardship.
An increasing number of women are working in their sixties and beyond. Today there are 1.26 million women in their 60s who are working, according to the jobs and volunteering site for the over 50s Rest Less – an increase of 50 per cent since 2009.
But some women say they cannot find a job no matter how hard they try and are having to claim benefits. Others say they have been forced into insecure or unsuitable jobs they are over qualified for. In 2018, more than 75 per cent of women in their 50s were employed, but the figure for women in their 60s was under 33 per cent.
‘Makes you think about life’
Valerie made another decision based on the fact she thought she would get the state pension at 60. She left her stable and well-paid job at her local council in 2012 at the age of 56.
She had been in the role for nine years and began reflecting on life. “In 2010 I had a benign tumour. I’ve still got it because it was inoperable because of where it is [throat]. It does make you think about life.
“I had an opportunity to work for a [holiday travel company]. It sounded interesting. I took it – still believing that I only had a few years to go until retirement and in the belief that I had paid full NI contributions to ensure my state pension was safe.”
Valerie can’t remember exactly when or how she found out that she would have to wait until the age of 66 to get her state pension. But she believes it was between leaving her local council job and 2013, when she received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions confirming the news.
After working abroad on a seasonal basis for the travel company, she returned to the UK permanently in 2018, primarily to spend time with her grandchildren. But Valerie found out that she might not qualify for the full state pension when she retires as she initially thought. She is currently trying to clarify the status of her National Insurance contributions but is concerned she will have to continue working until 66 to both support herself and to ensure she gets the full state pension.
Finding work
Back in the UK, Valerie looked for part-time work but could only find zero-hour contracts doing catering, cleaning, waiting on tables in restaurants or bar work.
“Even for full-time work, companies seem to want younger people willing to work a 40-hour week.
“I started working [at a foreign exchange company] on a 16-hour contract. However, the contract terms were very flexible and I could be told to work up to 24 hours a week. The days and hours were very random with no consistency whatsoever. The rota was notified on a month-by-month basis. This made it impossible to make plans to have my grandchildren in advance.”
The work impacted on her confidence and wellbeing and Valerie feared she might have to give it up. She decided to opt into a pension increase exchange scheme for her company pension which increased her monthly payments from around £400 to £600. But in return for larger payments now, she will have reduced outgoings in the future.
The working conditions at the travel exchange company, “coupled with the huge responsibility of having to account for literally every penny, and the very demanding audit criteria” caused her great stress. As it only paid £8.16 an hour, she decided to leave after six months and apply for a job with Royal Mail.
Valerie is now on a rolling contract, sorting post two days a week.
While she says the company is a good employer that pays well, the work is physically demanding. “You’re on your feet all day and you’re picking up parcels [and putting them] into the containers. Some are small packets and some are huge boxes. I think the maximum [weight] is 20kg.
“Although I only work two full days, it is very tiring. The role [is] physically demanding, [which] is partly due to having to get up at 4:30am to start work at 6am, which knocks my body clock out.
“Without this job, I would not be able to take my grandchildren out or spend money on Christmas and birthdays,” she says.
What has the Government said about the state pension age changes?
The Department for Work and Pensions said: “The Government decided more than 20 years ago that it was going to make the State Pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality, and this has been clearly communicated. We need to raise the age at which all of us can draw a State Pension so that it is sustainable now and for future generations.”
“Experienced workers are a huge asset to the workforce and we’ve seen a record of over 10.5 million over-50’s in work this year. Our National Careers Service and personal Work Coach support at every Jobcentre is helping people develop their career regardless of age, while we are working with employers through our Fuller Working Lives service to help them recruit, re-train and retain older workers. ”
‘I get tired more easily’
Valerie says she didn’t realise the impact working until 66 would have on her when she found out about the state pension age changes.
“It’s still a big difference, how you feel, your energy levels from 56 to 63. Now I’m 63, I [get] tired more easily.”
A few years ago – during Valerie’s stints in the UK while she worked for the travel company – she did Christmas shifts at Royal Mail five nights a week. “I look back and I don’t know how I did it… I was tired and my life was all about work.
“But I seem to be more tired now, doing my two days, and that can only be the difference in my body’s energy levels.
Valerie occasionally does an extra Sunday but doesn’t think she could do so on a regular basis. She also wants to fit in time to see her grandchildren.
She doesn’t know how long she will be able to continue at Royal Mail though. “It’s really tiring. I’m thinking of finding an office job. My friend, who is 11 years younger than me, [even] she was getting tired with the physical aspect of the role.
“I don’t think it will be easy [to find another job],” she adds.
‘It’s very unfair’
Valerie believes in equality and so supports women’s state pension age equalising to match men’s. But she thinks a retirement age of 63 for men and women would be more appropriate.
Of the hike to 66 for women, she says: “I think it’s very unfair. And I know I’m not the worst off of the 1950s women. There are people better off and there are people worse off.”
But her financial situation means she still has to “budget carefully”. “I don’t have any luxuries in life. I don’t even have WiFi. I get my internet on my phone. I can’t afford it [WiFi] and more importantly, I can’t afford to make that commitment because if anything should happen to my job, I wouldn’t be able to pay for it.
“I don’t know how people afford to smoke. I drive a 2003 car, I’d never be able to afford a new one in a million years.”
Valerie put some money aside after she sold her house a few years ago to be nearer to her children. But the cheaper flat she bought has some structural problems and eventually she would like to sell up, and using the money she has, buy another house.
She has no other savings. “I can’t save – don’t know how anyone else manages to save. It’s impossible,” says Valerie. “If for any reason I don’t manage to get work or I’m unable to work then, yes, life would be very difficult.”
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