Changes to the state pension age have left women aged between 60 and 62 years old worse off by an average of £32 a week, according to a new report.

The report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found 1.1m fewer women are receiving a state pension after the Government decided to raise the state pension age from 60 to 63.

According to the report, while this move has boosted public finances by £5.1bn a year, it has also meant household incomes for woman aged between 60 and 62 have fallen by an average of 12% or £32 a week.

The report notes for lower income households the drop is even more, having lost 21%, while higher earning households have only seen it decrease by 4%.

It also claims income poverty figures among 60 to 60-year old women have risen by 6.4% since 2010, although the report also found ‘no evidence of any change in measures of material deprivation’.

The report concludes families have ‘generally managed to avoid higher levels of deprivation by smoothing their spending over time’.

The female state pension age will rise to 65 years old in 2018 and 66 in 2020.

‘The tax and benefit system is much more generous to those above the state pension age than those below it,’ said senior research fellow, Jonathan Cribb.

‘So while increasing the state pension age is a coherent response to the public finance challenge posed by rising longevity, it does place a further pressure on household budgets.’

Jamie Hailstone

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