So Very Many Years For WASPI Women

And the two figures were very similar - about £5 a week between them. I hope this makes sense!

Poppyred

I don’t think there will be compensation. We are getting more pension than the ones who retired at 60. Time to move on…..

I'm glad at least one person realises this Poppyred
The difference is about £50 per week

Those women who were cheated out of a full pension by being forced by their public employers to pay the Married Women's Stamp should perhaps receive compensation too?

New State Pension:
The full basic State Pension you can get is £203.85 per week.
You usually need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount.

Old State Pension:
Requiring 39 years qualifying contributions (42 for men) 2023/24 is £156.20 a week

"Why is my State Pension lower than the new State Pension"?
🤔

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202312/medium-635188-f8b4a9a1-dfe7-4ab8-ab37-12e80c81331f.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202312/medium-291820-a40171e1-d5f3-4538-8ddd-294e65ad3fca.png

Those are the basic state pension rates, though. The additional payment, available only to those on the old state pension, can increase the amount paid considerably.

But I think that is only if you paid into SERPS.

If you were contracted out for your working life you won’t get anything extra. Just as I get nowhere near the full new state pension despite my 41 year NI record, because I was paying into the Local Government scheme for many years. Apparently only around 40% of the population get the full new state pension.

As I’ve said, my entitlement under the old scheme, including the additional payment I’d built up, was nearly the same as my entitlement under the new scheme - I ended up with about £5 a week more. And it’s nowhere near the full new pension amount.

If anyone was forced to pay the married woman’s stamp, I agree they should be compensated. Did this happen? I was given the option in the early 1970s, and never considered paying the lower amount.

Callistemon21

New State Pension:
The full basic State Pension you can get is £203.85 per week.
You usually need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount.

Old State Pension:
Requiring 39 years qualifying contributions (42 for men) 2023/24 is £156.20 a week

"Why is my State Pension lower than the new State Pension"?
🤔

I’ve been thinking about this issue this afternoon. If you were able to retire on a full pension at 60, you would receive 6 years more pension than somebody who retired now. Approximate figures, but that is well over £30,000 in weekly pension payments over the six years between 60-66. The difference in the two pension rates now is approx £60 a week, so a current new pensioner will be retired for 10 years before they receive the same benefits as a pensioner who retired at 60 - so at age 76. What could be an option is to level up once everybody has reached the point whère they have received a predetermined level of pension payments. That wouldn’t solve the specific issue for WASPI’s, but it would remove the anomalies in the system between pensioners of different ages. Is that a silly idea?

No, Casdon, it's a very sensible idea but not likely to happen.

Of course, many women were coerced/persuaded into paying a small stamp so their pension will be lower than the full old rate too.

I thought about working it out but too much was happening here so thank you.

The problem Labour have when they come into power next year is that Corbyn promised compensation. I realise this won’t appear on their next manifesto, but it leaves a residual hope. I predict a maximum payout of £500 when Starmer takes office. Yes, the general plan is to kick the can down the road till those affected die off. Personally, I will never get over being made redundant at 64, (having expected to retire at 60) and the shame of pitching up at the Job Centre and being asked to apply for jobs as a cleaner when I have 3 degrees.

I know several very elderly women (in their late eighties and nineties) who paid the reduced stamp Callistemon21, and they only barely survive now with additional pension credits, their husbands died before them, and both find it a humiliating position to be in, as well as very challenging financially. I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s certainly not a fair system at the moment.

Some of us were lied to in the 1960s.

Casdon

Callistemon21

New State Pension:
The full basic State Pension you can get is £203.85 per week.
You usually need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount.

Old State Pension:
Requiring 39 years qualifying contributions (42 for men) 2023/24 is £156.20 a week

"Why is my State Pension lower than the new State Pension"?
🤔

I’ve been thinking about this issue this afternoon. If you were able to retire on a full pension at 60, you would receive 6 years more pension than somebody who retired now. Approximate figures, but that is well over £30,000 in weekly pension payments over the six years between 60-66. The difference in the two pension rates now is approx £60 a week, so a current new pensioner will be retired for 10 years before they receive the same benefits as a pensioner who retired at 60 - so at age 76. What could be an option is to level up once everybody has reached the point whère they have received a predetermined level of pension payments. That wouldn’t solve the specific issue for WASPI’s, but it would remove the anomalies in the system between pensioners of different ages. Is that a silly idea?

Some of us on the old pension had to wait until we were 63 to get it.

I’ve just seen this thread. I have to say that I’m sick and tired of people saying that us WASPI women should have known. I did know it was going to happen at some point and was so paranoid about checking my ‘qualifying years’ that I did a pension forecast every single year. I even phoned up regularly to check, as I’d moved house frequently. I received no warning letters but did have printouts stating that I would have had enough qualifying years to receive state pension at 60. I’m assuming that this is what is meant by ‘maladministration’.
Someone, at some point, made a massive error.
Needless to say, I had to wait until I was 66.

Maggiemaybe

Joseann
I had a letter showing both when I got to retirement age.
Can I ask what you mean by that please?

Don't worry, I get it. I thought you meant two separate letters to choose!

Sorry, Joseann, I wasn’t ignoring you, I’ve been out all day.

Yes, just before my 66th birthday I got a letter showing me what my entitlement would have been under the old scheme and what it was under the new scheme, and how these figures were worked out, showing superannuation payments, etc. Then confirming that I would get the higher of the two amounts under some transition agreement. This was based on the new state pension, but wasn’t the full amount, as I’d been opted out for a good few years.

Lucky you! I started to receive my state pension this year and have never received anything to explain how much I am receiving and how it was calculated despite having written twice to ask for this information. I get a lot less than the standard rate despite having 35 years of contributions. I paid a lot of voluntary contributions including several partial years when I started and stopped work when my children were young and I was told I wasn't entitled to HRP for those years because I had worked for part of the year. Now those years have been given HRP credits but I won't get my money back because it's so long ago I don't have a record of how much I paid or when

chrissie13

Casdon

Callistemon21

New State Pension:
The full basic State Pension you can get is £203.85 per week.
You usually need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount.

Old State Pension:
Requiring 39 years qualifying contributions (42 for men) 2023/24 is £156.20 a week

"Why is my State Pension lower than the new State Pension"?
🤔

I’ve been thinking about this issue this afternoon. If you were able to retire on a full pension at 60, you would receive 6 years more pension than somebody who retired now. Approximate figures, but that is well over £30,000 in weekly pension payments over the six years between 60-66. The difference in the two pension rates now is approx £60 a week, so a current new pensioner will be retired for 10 years before they receive the same benefits as a pensioner who retired at 60 - so at age 76. What could be an option is to level up once everybody has reached the point whère they have received a predetermined level of pension payments. That wouldn’t solve the specific issue for WASPI’s, but it would remove the anomalies in the system between pensioners of different ages. Is that a silly idea?

Some of us on the old pension had to wait until we were 63 to get it.

Yes, that’s what WASPI is about.

I think that’s a bit misleading Callistemon21. My husband retired at 65, eleven years ago. His retirement pension is currently £196 plus some pence. Mine is due in February and will be approximately £202.
So, I am due to get £6 more per week! Hardly a huge difference.

I am a WASPI woman and still hope for compensation.

Dempie55

The problem Labour have when they come into power next year is that Corbyn promised compensation. I realise this won’t appear on their next manifesto, but it leaves a residual hope. I predict a maximum payout of £500 when Starmer takes office. Yes, the general plan is to kick the can down the road till those affected die off. Personally, I will never get over being made redundant at 64, (having expected to retire at 60) and the shame of pitching up at the Job Centre and being asked to apply for jobs as a cleaner when I have 3 degrees.

There’s no shame in working as a cleaner even if you have three degrees. I’m sorry you were made redundant though.

Frizzywizzy

I think that’s a bit misleading Callistemon21. My husband retired at 65, eleven years ago. His retirement pension is currently £196 plus some pence. Mine is due in February and will be approximately £202.
So, I am due to get £6 more per week! Hardly a huge difference.

I am a WASPI woman and still hope for compensation.

I don't know why your DH's pension is that amount but certainly the old pension after 35 years NI contributions is £156 pw and the new pension is payable in full after 35 years NI contributions, a difference of about £50 pw.

Many women failed to achieve even 35 years worth of NI contributions because they were lied to by the Government of the day.

I don’t believe anyone was forced to pay the married woman’s ni.when I started work in the mid 70s it was explained to me on the first day I was there ,(a large bank) the difference and what I’d get either way .i paid the full amount .Why should we now compensate those women who chose to pay the lower amount ?

Zoe65

I don’t believe anyone was forced to pay the married woman’s ni.when I started work in the mid 70s it was explained to me on the first day I was there ,(a large bank) the difference and what I’d get either way .i paid the full amount .Why should we now compensate those women who chose to pay the lower amount ?

Coerced, then! And lied to by the NHS.

Casdon
Doesn’t help those who die before 76 does it levelling everyone up at that age .
Most women I know on the old pension amount get more than I do on the new pesnsion with all the additional bits as well .i know two in their eighties on £241 a week for example .

What additonal bits ?
£241 per week?

Anyway, pointless arguments just setting one generation of women against another instead of putting the blame where it lies - ie successive governments.

Those who were lucky enough to receive their state pension at 60 have been paid approximately £48,000 in the 6 year period that WASPI women didn't receive any pension. WASPI women had to work 6 years longer to receive a pension that paid approximately £60 a week more but, this will take approximately 15 years for them to recoup the equivalent £48,000 paid to earlier retirees. I personally worked from 16 to 66 and so paid NI for 50 years. I feel that I've earned that extra amount.

Chrissie like you, I had to wait till I was 63 to be able to claim my state pension, and like you, it is the old pension. Therefore I lost three years of pension with no compensation of my pension being paid at the higher rate.