The controversial delay in paying state pensions to more than a million women is hitting household incomes.

The BBC reports that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that, on average, household income of women aged between 60 and 62 was now £32 a week lower.

It added that as a result poverty rates among that group have risen sharply.

The state is £5.1 billion better off because of the pension payment savings and the extra tax from women working longer.

While the Government says the delay in paying women state pensions reflects the continuing rise in life expectancy, the pressure group Waspi (Women Against State Pension Age Inequality) has attacked the changes as unfair.