Plenty of us have lost out on years of pension, durhamjen, and will not receive the £155, so please don't trivialise our position. Any years when we paid into a public service pension no longer count towards the state pension - they did under the old system. And as has ready been said, the extra contributions we made towards SERPS no longer earn us a top up. In my case I had 41 years contributions by the time I was made redundant at 60. I now care for my grandchildren and am 62. I have another 4 full years to wait for my state pension, and because I worked in local government, my pension forecast under the marvellous new system is around £100. Under the old system I would have earned the full state pension, plus a small SERPs top up, so I will get the equivalent of that under transitional arrangements, around £125.
Having lost 6 full years of payments, yes, I have lost out, to the tune of about £39,000. Plus, of course, the costs of public transport. My husband got his free bus pass at 60, and that gives him half price local train travel too. To add insult to injury, women in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, still get their bus passes at 60, and some in England get free transport in their own areas from 60 (London, for example). It costs me £5.80 to get to my nearest large town and back.
I hope all those women affected have joined the WASPI campaign, and that those who are able will travel to London on 8 March for our second demo outside Westminster. Many of us are working, not fit or simply can't afford the fare, so those who are able need to fight for them too.
www.waspi.co.uk