WASPI

Which payroll?! There must have been thousands of payroll depts

I worked in payroll, we had plenty of notice. Too long ago to remember if I had a letter

mae13

Not a sniff of a letter but I accidentally found out, quite some years later, that the DWP had made the decision to stop sending letters because it was found not to be cost effective.

In other words thousands upon thousands of women are not even worth the cost of a second class stamp. I despair.

Now that makes sense - and I'd be willing to bet that anyone expressing doubts about this policy would have been told "Never mind - divide and rule - and some women will turn on their colleagues and tell them it's their fault they didnt know/they must have had a letter really". Yeah well - we can see that there are some women indeed turning on other people and saying "You must have....you must have.....just because I did....".

Logic and knowing that this country operates a lot on deliberate "British inefficiency" would dictate that maybe those who actually got sent letters might have been those who would lose the greatest amount of pension. I can just picture some mandarin sitting there saying "Ah - we'll just send letters to those that are going to lose the whole 5 years...and then tail off somewhere along the line..just to save ourselves staff time". I would be willing to bet that's what happened. They'd have deliberately saved themselves on as many stamps as they figured they could get away with - but I think it more likely they were out surreptitiously to save on staff time figuring out just who should get a letter.

I seriously would be willing to bet that's what they were up to...

I never got a letter either

And I'm just waiting for the post that says: "of course, I can't remember whether or not I got a lettter - but, anyway, my husband told me all about it, so that's alright then."

Not a sniff of a letter but I accidentally found out, quite some years later, that the DWP had made the decision to stop sending letters because it was found not to be cost effective.

In other words thousands upon thousands of women are not even worth the cost of a second class stamp. I despair.

Aveline

eazybee maybe that would be fair if women had had equal opportunities for the 40+ years most of us paid in. However, some looked after young children, others suffered the well known gender pay gap. Such facile statements as yours are enraging. Just think about it.

?? Women who paid in full NI for 40+ years get full SP
( current qualification is 35 years NI contributions or credits)

Parents who were at home looking after children under 12, and in receipt of Child Benefit can claim NI credit for those years ; reducing "paying in " years to 23. ( accumulated before and after childcare)

The gender pay gap (on full time employment) per se, does not reduce either her working NI contribution record or, her entitlement to SP.

This is one of the surveys DWP used to gauge awareness of SPA.

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130107093842/http:/research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003-2004/rrep221.pdf

The report is based on analyses of module questions placed on the National Statistics Omnibus Survey in November 2003 and February 2004.

Page 8:

Only 43 per cent of all women who will be affected by the increase in SPA could identify their SPA as being 65 years or between 60 and 65.

From the first Ombudsman report published 2021.

115. Unpublished DWP research from 2007 found 85% of women aged 48 to 59 knew State Pension age was going to be equalised, but many women did not know when it would happen. The research also found that 50% of women whose State Pension age had risen to between 60 and 65, and 36% of women whose State Pension age had risen to 65, still thought that it was 60. DWP told us that if people are aware of the changes, they can find out their own State Pension age.

116. An internal DWP memo from April 2007 described the 2007 research findings as ‘depressing reading’. The memo reflects on the lack of progress since 2004 and the prospect of future complaints from women. It states:^

‘You floated the idea of contacting the Ombudsman to get a feel for how she would react to claims from women saying they had never been told or were not aware that state pension age is increasing. In the light of the lack of upward movement from our 43% base figure from 3 years ago, we suggest putting this off until we can explain our strategy from here to get the message over. If we go now, we face being painted into a corner. Despite a really strong defensive brief, we still have 50% “ignorance levels” with three years to go. [The Ombudsman’s] first question will be what are you proposing to do about it?’

117. A ministerial submission from December 2007 shows DWP knew people did not understand the impact of the changes for them. It says: ‘One of the key issues is that whilst some women do in fact have an awareness of the impending change, they do not understand how this relates specifically to them’.

kjmpde

V3Ra- I was born December 1957 and I got a letter

I agree that there were women who did not get a letter or enough notice but I do think some women have selective memories.'

I'm still amazed that some women think they can claim for "lost" pension -from the old age of 60. The ombudsman has already decided it is to do with lack of notice

Just to be clear, WASPI has never claimed for “lost”pension. Just for what the Ombudsman has recommended - fair compensation for lack of notice.

What do you mean about selective memories? Do you think the Ombudsman has got it all wrong?

But those on the new state pension don’t necessarily get more than those on the old one, Susieq62. There have been several GN threads about this, so I won’t derail this thread by going into further detail.

Plus I am on the old pension which is much lower than the new rate but I am not complaining as I have had the benefit of a state pension for longer! I just think women need to be more in the know about finances etc

Born in 1950 made it my responsibility to know exactly when I would receive my state pension so that I could plan accordingly! My OH thought he would get his at 65 but had to wait another year but he KNEW !!

I don’t know that there is a common belief that we paid into a pot, although that is often (rather smugly) brought up on these threads. Is there evidence of that?

What I do know is that from the day we started working - often in our teens - we paid a percentage of our income in NI, knowing that some of that was so that we would get a pension in our turn. I don’t know how many people gave any thought to the mechanics of the scheme, and arguably it was the governments through the years who could have made it plain, if it was so commonly misunderstood. That they didn’t suggests that they knew that people would object to paying with no guarantee they would get anything back.

These threads always end the same. Those who knew belittling those who didn’t- sometimes suggesting they are lying - and worse out for money.

The number of people who didn’t understand that paying a married woman’s stamp or think everyone on the old pension gets less than everyone on the new shows how sketchy understanding has been when it comes to pensions.

For most of our generation it was been possible to assume that the trust we had in ‘the system’ was reasonable, so who knew what and how they found out doesn’t alter the injustice, if you see it as such. If you don’t, then why not just say that you don’t care that 50s women - by no means all of whom are WASPI members (another misunderstanding that keeps cropping up) had years of lower pay, lack of access to promotion exclusion from pension schemes and so much more deserve another slap in the face? That’s really what underpins a lot of this.

I too find it highly inappropriate behaviour for some to say "It's your fault you didnt know" - when so very many of us have confirmed we indeed did not have letters. If they did = they were fortunate.

But a heck of a lot of us never did get our letters and I honestly wouldnt have known personally if I didnt read newspapers and accidentally spotted it there.

Thinks - should I get out my crystal ball - just in case there's anything else more recent we should all have been told - but only some of us were?

Everyone who is my age born 1954 that I know working in the NHS, got a letter. I do wonder if it was "Government" employees who got them? But I do recall seeing in Newspapers.
I had to wait until I was 66 yrs.

V3Ra- I was born December 1957 and I got a letter

I agree that there were women who did not get a letter or enough notice but I do think some women have selective memories.'

I'm still amazed that some women think they can claim for "lost" pension -from the old age of 60. The ombudsman has already decided it is to do with lack of notice

I am absolutely disgusted by some of the judgemental comments on here from some of you!! What is wrong with just supporting each other?
I was born in 1957 and did not receive any letter. In the 80’s I was bringing up young children and in the 90’s had gone back to work full time doing shifts .
Like you Time2 , I suffered from depression in the late 90’s and tended to shy away from newspapers , tv news etc. But I am by no means thick or stupid. My sister, a head teacher , born in 51 got her sp when she was 60 , my next sister a chartered accountant born in 54 would’ve got hers when she was 63 and a half ( if she’d lived that long , she died age 59 from cervical cancer) and she did not receive any letter either.
I was unfortunately made redundant in 2011 but had a very supportive husband so have been able to manage and now get sp and 2 small work pensions .
But please can you judgemental ladies please stop with the smug comments saying that you knew and ‘how could anyone not know?!’ Believe me shit happens and it was easy!!!

We have a surprising number of women here on Gransnet who knew all about every change to the SPA, because they saw information about them plastered all over the place at every turn. How odd then that the Ombudsman’s long and exhaustive inquiry has found clear evidence that the changes were not properly publicised, and has concluded that there was clear maladministration on the part of the DWP.

I personally received one letter, about the second change, when my SPA went up for the second time from 64y 10m to 66y. I did read about the earlier hike in a newspaper article, but people not interested in politics (and it’s not obligatory) probably wouldn’t have. As demonstrated by the fact that when I spoke about it to women I knew who would be affected, the majority of them were completely unaware of the changes and many were horrified to find that their plans for retiring to look after relatives etc were in tatters. And no, this was not because they were stupid or feckless, as some on here seem to believe. The ones most affected were of course those, often on very low wages or temporary contracts, who would be solely reliant on the state pension, and who did not have a generous private pot to draw on.

To my mind the worst aspect of the whole affair is that the government seems quite happy simply to ignore the findings of the Ombudsman, and so many women on here seem quite happy for it to do so. The Ombudsman is the last resort of any ordinary citizen who feels they’ve been treated badly by a powerful state body. What a dangerous precedent this would be.

I did receive the letters and I heard about the changes but I know some women who didnt receive them and didnt hear of the news either.

I was born 15 months into the 60s so I'm not a waspi .
If ever ( compensation is given ) I will get nothing which I feel miffed about plus cannot get my pension until age 67 .

No notification here.
I was told that my ex-husband's 'stamp' years had been deleted from my NI record because the current thinking is that we should be responsible for ourselves.
It wasn't the current thinking in 1980s!
I also wasn't told that until I questioned my years on the phone.
WASPI isn't the problem. It's that we are women. Money enough for other schemes though.

I did get a letter but unfortunately it arrived after my divorce settlement which took into account that I would receive my state pension at 60. Unfortunately I didn’t get the state pension until I was almost 67.

I did get notice, however it wasn’t a letter, I distinctly remember years ago during a Budget speech, it being announced that the women’s retirement age was rising, I’m not sure but a budget from John Major rings a bell, I knew being born in 1950 that it would affect me by a few months, I actually ended up working till I was 66 mainly to give myself some saving in retirement. Most women I know have never had an official letter.

I didn't get a letter, and didn't watch news or read newspapers, as having suffered from serious depression for many years, it was recommended that I steer clear of anything that might increase my anxiety. I'm not stupid, but at that time in my life I was busy raising my family, working, keeping house, and focusing on my other interests, while trying to keep the clouds of depression away. It really annoys me that so many people like 'Joanofarc99 'assume that those of us who genuinely didn't get letters, are either stupid, or suffering from 'selective amnesia hoping for ££££'. I also feel that women should support other women, not make nasty remarks, when they have no idea about the life that other's have lived.

I didn’t get a letter but was fully aware that changes were being mooted and when they actually happened. There was a lot of information out in the public domain.