Pension Age changes

Ros Altmann, the Minister of State for Pensions, is being interviewed on Radio 4's Moneybox today at noon.

WASPI, the campaigning group Women Against State Pension Inequality, have asked that supporters email or tweet the show today.

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France and Germany have already partially backtracked on their plans to raise the women's state pension age. This is a cause worth fighting for!

Fingers crossed they have some success with this. I'm one of the unlucky ones. I recently checked my NI deductions and I have already paid the max. Luckily I have an occupational pension but it was a shock to find I'd have to wait another 6 years before my state pension. More notice would have been helpful!

Jane its been since 1995 that it was announced that women's pension were going to be equalised so plenty of notice was given but a lot of women ignored or didn't realise the fact for 20 odd years.
I'm in full agreement that for some its terribly unfair I hope there is something that can be done to soften the blow to those it will affect.

It may well have been announced since 1995 but it has been accelerated to such a fast rate that many of us have not had time to make adequate provision for a late retirement and many many women will have to work a lot longer than they thought they would have to. So very unfair as we have all paid into the system.

Also, one of the points made by WASPI is that women weren't informed individually about the changes in 1995. Sure, it appeared in newspapers, but it wasn't headline news and tended to be a paragraph on the money pages. Not all women keep up with the latest news and some have reached the age of 60 genuinely unaware that they cannot access their state pension. This has caused real hardship for some. The individual comments on the WASPI Facebook page bear this out.

I had always thought it would be tapered not a sudden that's it. 6 more years. Boom just like that!

I thought it had been tapered. I knew years ago that I wouldn't be entitled to my state pension until I was nearly 62.

Not very tapered for some of us though, Ana, that's the point. Instead of a gradual incline it's a steep drop. I'm 60, but don't get my pension now till I'm 66, so will have lost out on 6 full years of pension payments. Someone exactly two years older than me will get theirs before they're 63, and will only lose out on 2 years and 9 months.

Oh I see, yes, unfair to say the least!

I wonder how old our children and grandchildren will have to be to be entitled to a state pension? 70?...75?...

But, irrationally I know, the thing that really makes me is typing my birthdate into the State Pension Calculator and seeing that I will get my bus pass when I'm 66, if I live in England. If I live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland I should already have had it since my 60th birthday. Talk about adding insult to injury!

At the minute my youngest, who is 31, is coming up as being able to retire on his 68th birthday. No doubt that will be a distant dream by the time he gets to that age!

I will be 66, there wont be a state pension when our children get to our age.

I was so so lucky, I got my state pension on my 60th birthday, another 9 months and the new rules would have applied. I was made redundant one month before my 60th birthday and claimed unemployment benefit for the final 4 weeks until my state pension was paid.

I have no private pension and would have been in a sad state had I been born 9 months later.

I hope you got a big redundancy payout, Coolgran.

Had worked there 13 years and got the basic government guidelne pay out. Recall it was something around £4.5k.

It was in the middle of the recession, no houses being sold. Our little local family solicitor company went from selling about 30 houses weekly....to only 2 or 3. We went to a three day week. Redundancy payment was based on your current wage so perhaps no coincidence that we'd gone to a three day week just prior to said redundancy. 9 staff were reduced to 3 part timers.

I used it to change my car to a newer model.

For all of you who are affected by the increase in SPA, particularly those of us born in 1954 and facing an extra 18 months on top of the four year increase we already had with very little notice. This is the latest petition in case you haven't seen it. Please sign and share. Thank you.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110776

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

Have all you ladies born in 1950s joined the WASPI Facebook page and signed the latest petition?

Long time lurking.

Back in 2013 when I put a thread up about this I got some less than helpful replies (although there were some sympathetic ones). Now it seems many are caught in the trap.

My sympathies to all who will end up in the same boat as I will. I wont be ungenerous as some were - and say, well, if you didn't pay in, why should you expect to get any out? And, why should you expect to retire earlier or use your husbands contributions rather than working and being equal?.....

The best response I heard to this issue was made on Money Box last week when the matter was discussed. I heard a lady who had already been made to retire asking about making up her NI contributions so she could have her full new state pension. After going through all the possibilities , one of the experts told it like it is " well you will just have to go back to work and stay there until you have enough contributions".

That sums it up I think.

It seems to be a case of "I'm alright Jack" you may be lucky and already get your state pension, but for 750,000 ladies born in the 1950s it is a nightmare. We expected our pensions at 60, the goalposts were moved as people were living longer, we accepted that we would have to wait longer. Then the goalposts were moved again, without notifying us and giving us time to readjust our plans. Mine moved from 60 to 63 to 65. Friends born the same year 1953 get their pensions now, I have to wait another 3 years. The WASPI campaign is fighting to change the inequalities of the change. Please, if you have not already done so, sign the WASPI petition ( link above in Joys post) and join the Facebook page. You may be okay, but there are lots of us struggling to carry on working, caring for parents, etc.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION - Thank you

I'm in the same boat... I'm 62 now and have been told I won't get my pension till March 2018. Sigh..... I'm lucky I'm self employed, and love my job!

It's disgusting the way we have been treated

I, too, would urge people to sign the petition mentioned by Joy and others, above. I realised way back in 1995 that I would have to wait until I was 63 to get my state pension but at that time I was 41 and there was time to plan. I can fully understand how some women would not realise there had been a change but I had at one time worked in the financial sector. The next change came in 2011 which knocked my state pension age back 18 months. At that time I had already taken early retirement based on my earlier financial plans! To add insult to injury I had previously been told that I had the maximum number of qualifying years for a full state pension ie 30. That has now changed to 35 years. I could, if I could afford it, pay further voluntary contributions but why should I hand over any more money to a government who, I consider, has treated me and thousands of other women, unfairly. Going back to work at the age of 61 and with health problems is not an option. So please if you are affected by the changes, sign the petition and get your friends and family to do so as well.

There was an excellent interview with Anne Keen, one of the WASPI founders, and Joan Bakewell on the BBC Breakfast programme this morning. They were both very impressive and put the case over in a succinct and informative way. Joan Bakewell was speaking about the issue in the House of Lords today. I haven't been able to watch the broadcast yet, but I understand that Baroness Altmann, Minister of State for Pensions, claimed in her reply that most of those affected accepted the situation. Does anyone else remember being asked?!

I've signed, but do we really think it will change anything ?