AN upper dale artist and businesswoman has called on Teesdale MP Helen Goodman to take action after a suggestion that the pension age should be raised to 75.
Judith Owsten, who is 75, continues to run her business Step In, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, alongside her husband Charles, who is 85.
They have been unable to sell their business property for the past ten years because young people “can’t afford to start their own businesses” .
She fears a rise in the state pension age will only make the situation worse.
The suggestion to increase the state pension age from 66 to 75 by 2035 was made by the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank which has former work and pensions minister Iain Duncan-Smith as its chairman.
Mr Owsten said: “We paid into, effectively, a contract. We are contracted to get a pension at 60 or 65 and suddenly they tear up the contract.
“In order to survive we are both still working.”
Mrs Owsten added: “We have tried to sell the property, but it is a substantial property and young people in the north cannot afford to buy it to run their own business.
“This is why I am angry. It is not fair to all the youngsters.”
She wrote to Mrs Goodman after receiving a survey from the MP about the proposed axing of free television licences for those aged over 75 and decided to highlight the latest suggestion.
Mrs Goodman met the couple during a visit to Middleton-in-Teesdale, where she also held a surgery.
Mrs Goodman said she was “horrified” at the prospect of the state pension age being increased.
She added: “It is a really bad idea and we have all got to say it is a bad idea because we have got to stop it.
“The healthy life expectancy here [Bishop Auckland Constituency] is 55. It is ten years below the national average. This policy might be fine for the stockbroker belt in Surrey.
“We have also seen what pain and agony there has been for WASPI [Women Against State Pension Inequality] women by raising the pension age from 60 to 65.
“People literally will not have a retirement.”
She said along with the suggested rise in the state pension age, she would also raise other issues in parliament including having more attention put on saving high streets and ensuring the government has legal powers to continue payments to farmers.
Mr Owsten said their Step In shop used to sell traditional sweets and other items, but it was converted into a space to sell art and prints after the burden of carrying out day-to-day retail duties such as buying in stock became too much.
He said: “We can’t dispose of the property so we went back to selling the things we do ourselves.
“It doesn’t bring in a lot of money, but it helps. This would be a derelict shop if we didn’t.”
