What an interesting article. Another factor, not often mentioned is the economic contribution retired people make. I support my mum who is 91, volunteer for the local wildlife trust, help run various local charity events. My DH drives older, less mobile neighbours to medical appointments and is treasurer for a local charity. We travel lots and contribute to the tourism economy at home and abroad. I have been very fortunate to retire at 60, however I am still economically active. If we are all to work until we drop, the losses in many aspects of the economy will be difficult to calculate.

The reduction in the Single Tier pension will not put you in a worse position than you would have been. Under the old system Maggiemaybe

I know that,*Gracesgran*, but jocork and others may not, which is why I would advise anyone to get a pension forecast. The opted out years make a massive difference.

The reduction in the Single Tier pension will not put you in a worse position than you would have been under the old system Maggiemaybe so, while not brilliant as some people were expecting the "opt out" to cover them both in the State Pension and the private pension scheme it had been paid into, there is at least a floor. It has always been the case that this was taken into account and reduced the state pension as I understand it.

The aim, and this seems to be the reason why you will no longer be able to opt out from the end of this month, appears to be that everyone will have a Single Tier State Pension which is almost always above the Pension Guarantee Credit so that if you were to withdraw your private pension and spend it all you could not go back to the state for more. Currently, if I remember rightly, about 40% of pensioners get Pension Credit and by 2050 this will have reduced to about 10%*.

These are just facts but my personal opinion is that the women born between April 1952 and July 1953 will lose out more than any others - which seems very unfair. However, as my mother would have said (about life so I slightly misquote ) "who said the government would ever be fair".

*https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181229/single-tier-pension.pdf

Like many people I was made redundant shortly after passing the original retirement age. Of course I had no chance of finding another job so the Department Of Unemployment could categorise me as work shy, despite a long working life.

It isn't really about demographics, it's just that paying the unemployment pittance - or denying it - is a lot cheaper for the government than paying pensions.

I am exactly the same as you tigga I have worked from being 16. I took the least time I could as "maternity leave" (a few weeks in each case) not by choice but by necessity. I will be working full time until I am at least 67.5 but as I mentioned earlier it will probably be around 70 by then. Miserable thought isn't it?

You need to ask for a pension forecast, jocork. I don't want to alarm you, but your flat rate pension may be considerably reduced, as under the new arrangements the years you were opted out will not count at all towards it.

Taking into account the wide variations in life expectancy, perhaps the fairest system would be for everyone to have an actuary assess their life expectancy at the age of, say, fifty, and have their retirement age calculated accordingly.
Not sure how acceptance this would be.

Welshwife I think you'll find that with 40 years service at 1/80 salary you would get 50% of final salary not 40%(40/80 =1/2 = 50%)
I too work in the public sector, previously in the NHS for 10 years and currently as a learning support assistant in a school. My current salary is so low that I anticipate being better off on my combined pensions as I should be entitled to the new flat rate pension at age 65 and 11 months although it may be reduced due to contracting out. Thankfully I now get credits for all the years when I was an almost full time mum only working a few hours a week and not earning enough to pay NI. Otherwise I'd really be in trouble. Despite generous public sector pensions I will still have to downsize to release capital to top up my pension and pay off the mortgage which isn't due to end until I am 79! If I'd been able to retire at 60 I would have struggled to make ends meet as my pensions would be significantly lower and even with a large house to downsize it would have been a struggle to make the money last if I live as long as I hope. So in some ways I'm glad I've had to work longer as at least when I do retire I will have enough to survive on.

I'm with you Elfies. We were encouraged to pay the married women's stamp and I continued with this for years - until I realised that I was actually paying more than if I'd been paying a full stamp. Then they decided to change the rules, removing the facility to claim on husbands contributions (except up to a very low limit). Having been part time for most of my working life I wasn't allowed to contribute to a pension in the earlier years - it simply wasn't allowed. Now, obviously I won't benefit from the new higher state pension. Consequently, having worked my whole life I have very little state pension and minimal private pension.

This is the link to WASPI's page:

m.facebook.com/WASPI-Women-Against-State-Pension-Inequality-Campaign-877054125688402/timeline/

And this to their petition to Government. The more signatures it gets, the more chance there is of the issue being taken seriously:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110776

There has been real injustice here. The Government has promised that in future no one will be given less than 10 years notice of changes to their pension age, to allow them time to plan and re-adjust. Many of the women affected have had less than 2 years notice.

Look at WASPA on facebook they are campaigning against the inequality of the retirement ages for women born in the 50s.

There is going to be a "balancing" in pensions which was announced last night I believe.

Those paying in to these very good final salary pensions have, up to now, been about to pay less NI by opting out. There has not been a lot about this yet but, as I understand it, opting out is ending so the NI contributions will go up to the full amount. Of course people paying into these very good final salary pensions, where they still exist, will be well advised to go on doing so as they still get the same benefit from that pension.

This will sort out some of the issues with the new Single Tier Pension where people have discovered they will not get the full amount because they have opted out of NI contributions. Of course, no one will never get less than they would have done under the old system and they will have the pension the NI amounts have been paid into.

I have four college friends all in the 1952/3 college year we all get our pensions at different times with as much as three years difference. I agree with raising the retirement age in line with men, but gradually not so those of the same age are treated so differently.

I don't know what you have been looking at re the figures for Pension Credit mcem but your income, rather than being "not quite close enough to the level where I can claim pension credit" is almost twice the level at which you can claim it.

And what of the ladies encouraged to pay the married womans 'small' stamp as they'd get a pension on their husbands contribution .
I get £300 a month pension as I worked the wrong years when my children were small

it actually makes me feel like crying reading this
Your State Pension age67 years
When you’ll reach State Pension age14 November 2028
How much per week you may get£115.95

ive worked since the day i left school had 2 children and went straight back to work im now 54 and never had an easy life so if i even live to retire it will be a miracle, tory strategy work 60 hrs a week on a pittance called minimum wage, retire when your too old to enjoy it then die, thank you

Ĺucky I'd like to point out that I gave details of my total household income so by adding your pensions together your total income would clearly exceed mine. The safety net of pension credit still exists meantime. By making large superannuation contributions and buying back and avc's I have succeeded in putting myself just outside the range to be entitled to council tax benefits, free boiler replacement etc etc.
Thanks to my late parents i was able to pay off my mortgage shortly before retirement.
I' m not complaining about my income which is adequate but would certainly complain if it's assumed that all public sector pensions are either free or extremely ģenerous.
The highest paid headteacher I know earns 60k+ but that's pretty unusual.

Senior teachers, senior academics and senior managers in public sector all get over £53k Wilma.

This is not correct, JessM. The current leadership group pay range for schools, for example, starts at £38,598.

I believe the average public sector pension is around £5,000. I do know people who have retired from the private sector, from banks in particular, with significantly better pensions than comparable public sector workers (in a couple of cases without ever having had to contribute a penny). Like your cousin, they are the lucky minority.

Many women now in their early sixties are not so lucky, cannot work due to ill health or family commitments and were relying on receiving their state pension at 60. Some are now suffering real hardship.

My civil service pension is not as high as £35k either

Galen that was £53k salary being referred to, not the pension.

The whole idea of making people work till they are older ignores their role as carers to elderly parents.

I just detest the principle that you pay in under one expectation and the goal posts are moved - that is just plain dishonest. If a private pension scheme did this, they would be in trouble.

mcem - my pensions amount to just over half of what you get. If it were not for the fact that my OH gets a slightly larger pension we would be in trouble. Neither of us have a total pension that it would be possible to live on. If my OH were to die I would be right in the mire.

I'm ex-NHS too, I worked damn hard for every penny of my pension, low pay for years, unsocial hours etc. I remember friends who weren't in the Public Sector being horrified at how low nurses pay was/is.
As well as continuing to work I spend 20-30 hours a week caring for my very elderly parents, it's bl...y tough.

As an ex NHS employee I must reiterate that I contributed to my pension. It was not somehow free or tax payer funded. In addition I also had to buy past added years to make up for time spent with children. A significant proportion of my salary just disappeared towards my pension. It was hard at the time but worth every penny to me now. Saving for my pension was very important to me. I looked on it as buying my freedom from work. I also bought FSAVCs.

I was a senior civil servant and I can assure you that my total pensions ( OAP, civil service and late husband's pension ) do not total up to £53k gross.

gillybob I appreciate that the idea of retiring at 60 now looks ridiculous but that was the norm in 2002. I was so fortunate that I was born in 1943 and not 10 years later.

I think that it is disgraceful that people are having to drag themselves to work in their mid to late 60's and as somebody else mentioned, it will be retirement and then death fairly soon because the retirement age will be in the 70's. It is fine for the likes of George Osborne with inherited wealth and I do not think that he has had a "proper" job to dictate to us at what age we should receive our pensions.