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A grandmother has revealed how changes to the state pension age have hit her financially so badly that she and her husband are forced to live on a tiny boat after they can no longer rent their home.
Karen Ogle, 66, and her husband Mike, 73, were forced to use their savings to buy a boat when Mike retired aged 69 and found they could no longer afford to rent one themselves, and they now live on a narrowboat in Derbyshire.
“We live on a narrowboat out of economic necessity, not a lifestyle choice,” Ogle said. I“Private rent was costing me £750 a month and I just couldn’t afford to keep paying it.
“My worry is that I don’t know how long I can continue if my health declines. Narrowboat life is a good life in many ways but it’s also a tough life.”
“Our lives would definitely have been easier if we had received our state pension earlier at 60, rather than waiting until 66 and receiving no formal notice.”
Ogulu is one of an estimated 3.8 million WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) members who will be affected by major changes to the state pension age.
In March, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had failed to properly inform women that the state pension would increase from 60 to 65 and then to 66, and that women affected by the changes should be paid compensation by the government.
Ogle explained that her husband, Mike, continued to work until he was 69, while caring for his father, with whom he lived for two and a half years.
When her husband retired from his job as a buyer, they found they could no longer afford to keep paying rent, so they found a cheap narrowboat on sale for £30,000 and used their savings to buy it just over two years ago.
Ogle is now of pension age and will finally be able to collect his pension, but he says life would have been much easier if he had received it at 60, as expected.
The mother of four and grandmother of seven grandchildren, she said: “I was a young mother born in the 1980s and stayed at home to look after my children. I was married to my first husband at the time and he was working full time. That marriage fell apart. The idea at the time was that if we stayed married we’d share pensions. But that didn’t happen.”
“When my children were young I wasn’t working so I didn’t pay into a pension. As they got older I did a few part-time jobs, looking after the children etc, but pensions were never spoken about or I didn’t have one, especially as I was working part-time.
“With four kids, it was just not possible for me to afford childcare costs while working full time.”
Once his children were grown up, Ogle began working for his social housing authority and eventually started paying into a pension, which resulted in him receiving a small private pension.
After her mother’s death, Ogle’s father lived with her and her husband, but he remained with them for two and a half years as he became too weak to live on his own.
“I claimed Carer’s Allowance whilst looking after my dad at home but couldn’t work as I had to take him to hospital appointments and outings, and Mike had to keep working to pay the rent.
“My dad had a great time living with us and we loved it and we wouldn’t want to change anything about it. He passed away in November 2020.”
“But if I had received my pension at 60, or if I had received notice of the change in pension age, financially we would all be a lot better off.”
Ogle said she had not received any official notification about the increase in the state pension age and only found out about it through the media.
“We all assumed, and I always believed, that we WASP women retired at 60 and the men retired at 65,” she said. “I was never informed otherwise, or told, ‘Everything’s going to change now and you’d better start paying into your pension.'”
Ogulu and her husband live on a narrowboat, and with no moorings they move their boat up and down the canals, constantly cruising. “In some places you can stay for two days, in others you can stay for a week, 14 days,” she explained.
“It’s not an easy life as you have to keep the boat moving and empty the toilets. Living on a small boat has its challenges but it’s also fun as the scenery is constantly changing and you’re only going at four miles per hour so you get to just cruise along and see the country from a different perspective.
“But although it’s a good way of life, it’s also a tough way of life because you’re hauling coal and logs and water.
“We live on narrowboats by necessity, not by choice. If we’re healthy that’s fine, but what happens if we’re not?
“What we’re worried about is when we get older and our health declines, because life on a narrowboat is quite demanding physically and physically, with all the work we have to do, putting in the locks and the moveable bridges and all that.”
Ogle says that although she and her husband are currently on a state pension, the high cost of living makes living on a narrowboat their best option.
It would be different if they were still able to work, but she says age discrimination is a factor in getting work. “I tried to get a job at a supermarket last year but I couldn’t even get an interview,” she says. “They don’t want older people, they want younger people, especially since they are paid less.”
“If I had received the state pension at 60, I would have saved more and been able to spend more time with my grandchildren. But financially, it’s really tough.”
Ogle said: I She believes the announcement of the July 4 general election is a major blow to WASPI’s campaign and will delay the receipt of any compensation she is due.
“WASP women will have great obstacles to overcome.
“If compensation were to be paid it would probably be around £1,000 but the average loss per woman is probably around £35,000 so that would be wrong.”
“The retirement plans of women like Karen have been put at risk, their retirement plans have been destroyed and many have been forced out of their homes,” Angela Madden, chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said.
“The women most affected were only informed of the six-year increase in the state pension age just 18 months ago, with life-changing consequences.”
“The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report was published in March and issued a clear mandate to MPs to provide financial relief to women as soon as possible.”
“With 3.6 million WASP women across the country seeking fair and swift compensation, many of them in closely contested districts, it’s clear that political parties should act quickly and commit to paying compensation to victims who have already waited too long for justice.”
Responding to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement that a general election would be held on July 4, Ms Madden said: “The Chancellor has taken a huge gamble by heading the country towards a general election without a compensation plan for WASP women.”
“WASPI has received tremendous support from members of Congress in recent weeks, who support our call for fair and prompt compensation.”
“Now is a clear opportunity for all parties to commit to providing fair relief as quickly as possible.
“The number of women affected exceeds the majority of MPs in around 170 constituencies, making the votes of WASP women crucial in this election.”