Generation of women in debt after ‘absolutely devastating’ state pension fallout
For 3.8 million women born in the 1950s, retiring at 60 was all they knew.
Until suddenly, they learned that they would have to wait a further six years to get their state pension.
An additional six years of working none of them, including Moira Holland, had planned for.
Ms Holland had dedicated 35 years of her working life to the care sector, after gruelling and tiresome work she was ready to retire at 60 and was counting down the days until she would be able to enjoy her retirement.
Vigorous work had also taken its toll on her mental and physical health, but knowing she was a year from retiring got her through the tough days.
The devastating blow came via a letter, informing her a year before she was due to say goodbye to work, that she would have to work for six more years and retire at 66 instead.
“It was devastating, absolutely devastating,” Ms Holland tells Sky News. “We thought at 60 years old we’d get our pension.
“So I was all set up to retire, have a nice life, get my pension, be able to manage well, and then to get the letter to say no – ‘you’ve not got to work one more year, you’ve got to work six more years till you’re 66’ – was terrible, absolutely terrible.”
Ms Holland says the last-minute nature of the news has impacted her health.
“I had mental health problems and arthritis, you know really physically and mentally, I was really struggling, really struggling to work,” she explains.
“Also, lots of my friends died at 60, and they never got their pension. So on top of the health problems, I’m thinking, am I ever going to see this pension? Am I going to live to be 66? Nobody knows. So really, it was very, very heart-wrenching.”
Moira Holland
Why was the state pension age changed?
The state pension age was aligned to match men in a move praised for improving gender equality.
But campaigners from Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI) have long argued they were not given sufficient warning of the change, leaving millions with insufficient time to prepare or make other financial arrangements.
What has the impact been?
Exclusive data shared with Sky News from WASPI found a third of women affected by the changes are in debt, with as many as 80% saying they suffered financial hardship by the delay in finding out the retirement age had changed.
So far, 220,190 women impacted have died without answers.
Campaign chair of the voluntary organisation, Angela Madden, accuses the government of not meeting with members since 2016.
She tells Sky News: “The government has never really engaged with us. Guy Opperman was the last pensions minister to meet with the WASPI campaign in 2016, which really is atrocious given that we have lost so much through government incompetence.
“It is up to the government to change the state pension age if they must.
“There were probably reasons they did that, but not to have the courtesy to give us any notice so that we can do anything about it is absolutely disgraceful, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
Campaign chair of the voluntary organisation WASPI Angela Madden
‘I wasn’t given the opportunity’
Last year, the Parliamentary Ombudsman found the women should have been given at least 28 months’ more notice.
It said the Department for Work and Pensions should have written individual letters to the affected women.
Ms Madden was also personally affected by the maladministration.
“Some women, myself included, chose to stop working before we knew about the state pension age increasing because our parents or members of our family required care,” she says.
“I made the choice to leave a full time job and spend some time with my mother in her final days.
“Looking back, if given an earlier warning, I would have probably combined caring for my mother and working part-time. I wasn’t given the opportunity to make that choice.
“Had the government done what they should have done and told us as soon as they knew about the law changing, then we would have all known about it well in advance and been able to make the right decisions.”
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Pensions: Your questions answered
What has the government said?
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson told Sky News: “We support millions of people every year and our priority is ensuring they get the help and support to which they are entitled.
“The government decided over 25 years ago it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a move towards gender equality.
“Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP under successive governments dating back to 1995 and the Supreme Court refused the claimants’ permission to appeal.”
The 19-year-old woman who died after she was attacked by a dog at a flat in Bristol on Wednesday has been named as Morgan Dorsett from Shropshire.
Two people – a man and a woman both aged in their 20s – have been arrested over the attack and have been released on conditional bail.
Initial reports suggested the dog may be an XL bully, but confirming the breed will form part of the police assessment process, according to Avon and Somerset Police.
It was sedated and seized by officers.
An XL bully. File pic: PA
Ms Dorsett’s family thanked the public for their support and those who have left flowers near the scene.
Officers were called to an incident in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol at 7.19pm on Wednesday.
Paramedics and police officers attended but Ms Dorsett died at the scene.
Ms Dorsett. Pic: Avon and Somerset Police
On Thursday, Inspector Terry Murphy said: “Our thoughts, first and foremost, are with the family of the young woman who’s tragically died as a result of yesterday evening’s incident. They have been updated and will be supported by a family liaison officer.
“I’d also like to thank the officers and paramedics who attended yesterday evening and tried to save her life. Support is in place for them.
“A full investigation is now well under way to establish the full circumstances of the events that led to her death.”
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Flowers left near the scene. Pic: PA
A neighbour also paid tribute to Ms Dorsett, saying she “seemed a lovely girl” and had only lived in the property for a few weeks.
“I was up all night awake trying to process this,” the neighbour, who did not want to be named, said.
“I am shocked. I just can’t believe it’s happened and she hasn’t been there that long.”
The neighbour said she had seen the dog on a lead with its owner and was certain it was an XL bully.
“I do feel so sad for the dog owner,” she said.
“She did mention the dog wasn’t great with men, fine with women and children.
“I feel for her so, so much. It wasn’t her fault.”
She added: “I genuinely feel that this was one of those freak accidents and wasn’t her fault – that’s how I feel.”
In February 2024 it became a criminal offence to own the XL bully breed in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.
Anyone owning one of the dogs must have had the animal neutered, microchipped, and kept muzzled and on a lead in public, among other restrictions.
The government move to ban the breed followed a series of attacks on people and other dogs.
UK
Bargain Hunt auctioneer Charles Hanson cleared of coercive control and assault allegations related to his wife
Bargain Hunt auctioneer Charles Hanson has been cleared of coercive control and assault allegations relating to his wife.
The 46-year-old was accused of being violent towards Rebecca Hanson over an eight-year period.
The charges were brought after he was arrested in June 2023.
The TV auctioneer, from Mackworth, Derby, denied controlling or coercive behaviour spanning from 2015 to 2023, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and assault by beating. The two assault charges related to incidents in 2015 and 2023.
During the trial, Hanson claimed his wife had controlled him. He told the court he was “almost a slave” to her, saying she left him “a beaten and broken man” by controlling him and making him subservient towards her.
She had claimed her husband was violent towards her and put her in a headlock in 2012, while she pregnant with a baby she later lost.
Mrs Hanson also alleged her husband repeatedly “grabbed” her, scratched her as she tried to snatch a mobile phone and pushed her twice during a row.
Hanson outside the court with his parents today. Pic: PA
The auctioneer told the court his wife was allowed “to do what she wanted” but had experienced “moments and episodes” including one which saw her claim his legs being crossed amounted to abuse.
Jurors deliberated for around four and a half hours before delivering not guilty verdicts on all charges.
As the verdicts were returned, Hanson smiled at his parents, who were sat in the front row of the public gallery at Derby Crown Court, and gave them a thumbs-up.
After thanking the jurors for their care in considering the case, Judge Martin Hurst told Hanson: “You have been found not guilty. That is the end of the case. You will hear no more about it and you are free to go.”
The TV star’s parents wept and hugged their son after he was discharged from the dock.
Hanson ‘relieved this is all over’
Hanson speaks to media after the verdict. Pic: PA
Speaking to reporters outside the court, Hanson said: “I’m delighted that after a year and a half the truth has finally come out.
“I can finally live my life again. I feel this burden has finally been lifted.”
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“It has been a tormentuous time and all I want now is to readjust to what has been such an ordeal,” he continued. “I am so relieved that this is all over.”
As well as regularly featuring on Bargain Hunt, Hanson has appeared on Flog It! and Antiques Road Trip.
A self-described “monster” who beat a top chef to death near Notting Hill Carnival has been jailed for life.
Omar Wilson repeatedly punched and kicked Mussie Imnetu during an altercation outside a restaurant in Queensway, west London, on 26 August last year.
Wilson, 31, then left the scene to go clubbing.
Mr Imnetu, 41, who worked under star chefs Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, died in hospital four days later, without regaining consciousness.
Mussie Imnetu. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Sentencing Wilson to a minimum 18 years, Judge Philip Katz said Mr Imnetu’s “brutal” killing was “abhorrent”.
“Mussie and those who loved him are the victims in this case and the impact on them of his murder has been severe,” he said.
“Mussie was defenceless on the ground when you punched and kicked him to death.”
He continued: “You could not control your temper. Only a few seconds after punches were aimed by both of you you tripped Mussie and he fell to the ground and you could have walked away.
“As he knelt you rained further punches down on his head. You could have walked away.
“However, you stood up, raised your leg and kicked him hard to the head. Kicking someone to the head when they are defenceless on the ground is abhorrent.”
CCTV footage of Omar Wilson at a security point after the assault. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Mr Imnetu’s wife, Linda, described her husband as “respected, admired and loved” in a pre-recorded victim impact statement played in court.
“Mussie didn’t just leave behind a legacy for his family, he left an indelible mark on his workplace and community,” she said.
“Nothing can undo what has been taken from us. I ask the court to remember the man Mussie was: his character, his integrity and the life he built; not just the circumstances of his passing.”
An audio recording of Mr Imnetu’s six-year-old son wishing his “daddy” goodbye was also played in court, which the judge called “heart-rending”.
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CCTV footage was played in court during the trial showing Wilson approaching Mr Imnetu and headbutting him.
Around a minute later, Wilson punched Mr Imnetu five times in the head, continued to repeatedly punch him while he was on his hands and knees, and then kicked him in the head.
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Wilson of Napier Road, east London, told the Old Bailey he was acting in self defence, telling jurors: “I just regret that somebody’s life was taken while I was trying to defend mine.”
He claimed Mr Imnetu had a broken bottle – something Judge Katz described as “a deliberate lie”.
The court heard after the attack that Wilson had told an associate he “crossed the line”.
In a message, he said: “There’s a monster in me, man, and it’s just like sometimes it comes out.
“And I think I’ve messed up now, I’ve messed up, everything’s finished.”
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