A grandmother with osteoarthritis had to keep working despite undergoing hip, knee, and spinal disc replacements after the Government increased her state pension age from 60 to 66.
Angela Merrick, 66, who lives in Rayleigh, Essex, has worked in railway ticket offices for 28 years and said she feels lucky that her employer provided full sick pay during surgeries. Without it, she said she could have lost her home or been forced to downsize. Ms Merrick, being divorced and needing the income to cover her expenses, explained to the i paper: “I couldn’t afford not to work.”
Like 3.8 million women affected by the state pension age changes, Ms Merrick, a WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigner, learned about the extension when she was 58, thinking she had only two years left to retire. She said: “At first, I thought it was a joke, but then I realised I faced working another eight years.”
Ms Merrick had her first hip replaced over 20 years ago, with the second one in 2013. A year later, spinal issues led to surgery to replace two discs. Despite the challenges, she returned to work after each operation.
Tragically, both of her sisters died from cancer, and she cared for her father, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, until his death in 2012. After more surgeries and a failed knee replacement two years ago, she finally had to retire.
Ms Merrick considers herself fortunate to have a private railway pension, which provided a lump sum to live on until she reached 66 and began receiving her state pension.
However, she expressed frustration over the lost years, telling the i that not being able to retire at 60 “stole part of my life.”
She continued: “I missed part of my grandchildren’s lives and wasn’t able to help as much as I would have liked as I was working shifts and weekends.”
Worsening the blow, Ms Merrick is now one of the 10 million pensioners to lose out on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Winter Fuel Payment in the first year she was supposed to qualify for it.
Ms Merrick said she feels the cold more now due to her arthritis and is “scared” to think about heating costs.
Despite her struggles, Ms Merrick remains passionate about fighting for Waspi women, even volunteering with Citizens Advice to help others navigate their rights. “It feels like no one cares about us. They’re just waiting for us to get older and die. But we must keep fighting for justice.”
Angela Madden, chair of WASPI, said stories like Angela’s show “how badly” women were affected by the Government’s failure to notify them about increases to their state pension age, adding that many “risked losing their homes”, and those without private pensions are even more vulnerable.
She added: “Ministers repeatedly said they wanted to restore trust in politics during the election. Ignoring the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s instructions to provide compensation to Waspi women would certainly fall far short of this.”
