Two powerful pressure groups are urging the government to make changes to the state pension system to make it fairer for women.
Age Concern and the Fawcett Society have said that if no reforms are implemented, 20 per cent of single women pensioners will continue to live in poverty.
They want to see the state pension raised to £109 a week for all retired men and women.
"Women tend to receive lower pensions because they earn less than men during their lifetimes," said the director of the Fawcett Society, Dr Katherine Rake.
"Increasing the pension age will not change this and will do nothing to reduce the number of pensioner women living in poverty."
They also want the current system to be overhauled and replaced with one which relies on residency rather than National Insurance contributions.
Broken employment records, due to time off while raising children, mean that many women do not qualify for a full state pension.
Only 16 per cent of newly-retired women currently have a full basic state pension, compared with 78 per cent of men.
Pensions have also become a key issue in the forthcoming election.
The Labour government is promising extra money to people who delay their retirement, while the Conservatives say they would raise the state pension in line with earnings rather than prices.
As for the Liberal Democrats, they are championing a 'citizens' pension' as suggested by Age Concern and the Fawcett Society.
Calls for better pensions for women
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Calls for better pensions for women
Fri, 22 Apr 2005
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