1 week Ago By Aasma Day
A woman with arthritic knees has revealed she is still working as a ballet teacher at the age of 70 to boost her state pension after it was delayed by six years without adequate warning. Susie Clarke, is one of an estimated 3.8 million Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) affected by major changes to the state pension age.
The Waspi campaigners say that women born between 1950 and 1960 were not given enough notice about the increase in their pension age and is demanding compensation for the impact on their lives. In March this year, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that women affected by the changes are owed compensation from the Government as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to adequately inform them the state pension age would rise from 60 to 66. The watchdog recommended compensation payments of between £1,000 and £2,950, however, as yet, the Government has given no details on whether any compensation will be paid or a timeline.
In the Chancellor’s Budget, £11.8bn was set aside for the victims of the infected blood scandal while £1.8bn was allocated to those impacted by the Post Office Horizon scandal .
Ms Clarke, who is married to Alan, 84, told i that she is still working part-time as a ballet teacher, while her husband is still working as a musician playing the piano in order to sustain their quality of life after she spent her savings plugging the pension gap. “I have worked out that I lost around £38,000 through the lack of my pension which was promised to me at the age of 16 when I was told I would retire at 60. “This is a grave injustice and I will never stop fighting it.
” Ms Clarke says that she began work at the age of 16 as a typist with the BBC, but she wanted to follow her dream of becoming a ballet teacher. She carried on working in offices until the age of 35 and then embarked on a teacher training course with the Royal Academy of Dance and successfully opened her own dance school. The mum-of-one says she heard about the first change in her pension age by accident at the age of 41 when she overheard two women chatting at a supermarket checkout and one said: “We don’t get our pensions at 60 any more do we?” Ms Clarke said: “This came as a total shock to me as it was the first I heard of it.
As I was self employed, I went home and wrote to the government department asking for a pension forecast and they wrote back saying my pension age was 64 – so it had gone up four years without any warning and I wouldn’t have found out if I hadn’t heard those women talking and asked. Read Next 'I’m a Waspi woman who worked in the NHS, now I won’t get the winter fuel allowance’ “However, I was 41 at the time and my daughter was six and I was really busy with my dance school, so I didn’t give it too much thought as it was 20 odd years away.” Ms Clarke, who lives in Bexley, south-east London, carried on working as a ballet teacher throughout the years, but began suffering from arthritic knees and plantar fasciitis at the age of 57.
She once again wrote to ask for a pension forecast and was told her state pension age was now 65 and eight months. Despite knee and heel issues, Ms Clarke continued to teach, but as she could no longer cope with the demands of teaching young children, she took up semi-retirement and began teaching just teenagers from 2017. She also got a job with a university teaching ballet to adults.
“I began to struggle financially as studio costs went up,” she recalled. “The very little savings I had were diminishing rapidly because I didn’t get my state pension when I thought I would. “I had to run a car to get to work.
I was 64 and still had two years to go before I received my state pension and was struggling. “Alan started paying me £50 a week to help with the cost of my car and other expenses to do with my work. But /I wanted my independence and didn’t want to rely on him.
However, without my state pension , it was difficult. “If I didn’t have Alan, I would have been in dire straits. He is older than me, so he was already getting his state pension and has an army pension from when he was a musician for them.
” When Ms Clarke was just six months away from her twice hiked state pension date, she was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer . She underwent surgery, followed by radiotherapy but carried on working throughout. “I was determined to get my pension,” she said.
“I had expected it at 60, but then found out I had to wait until 64. Then I discovered I had to wait until almost 66. When I found out I had this serious cancer, I knew I had to beat it and get to my retirement age.
” Ms Clarke now receives her long awaited pension, but even though she now has it, she is still working two days a week as a ballet teacher at the age of 70. “I am still working to boost my state pension, even though my knees are not what they used to be,” she said. “Luckily, I enjoy what I do, but I also need the money as without working, I wouldn’t be able to run my car or contribute to things.
“The Waspi scandal is disgraceful and thousands of women have died without seeing justice and getting compensation. “I would urge all young.people to find out exactly where their national insurance payments are actually going.
” Angela Madden, chair of Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi), said: “It is deeply saddening, but unfortunately all too familiar, to hear the experiences of women such as Susie who should be enjoying their retirement but are faced with being forced to work until they drop through no fault of their own. “Ministers have the opportunity to remedy this injustice right now through urgently compensating those affected, following the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report which was issued more than six months ago. “Hundreds of MPs from across the political spectrum are supporting Waspi’s calls for financial redress.
“Meanwhile, millions of WASPI women across the country continue to await details of a compensation scheme from ministers.” A Government spokesperson said: “This was a serious report, requiring serious consideration. “We will continue to listen respectfully to the women involved, and ensure we take on board any lessons learnt.
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