Women's state pension age - what do you think?

I am one of the lucky ones, born in 1950. My pension was delayed by only 4 months and with a good occupational pension I was able to retire on my 60th birthday. But I am very angry at the unfairness of these changes which affect so many women.
The state pension is NOT a benefit, and I am heartily sick of hearing it described as such. It is a contract whereby we all agreed to make contributions and the government agreed we would receive our pensions at 60. We kept our part of the agreement - if we hadn't made the full contributions, we knew we wouldn't get the full pension. I am disgusted that successive governments have just moved the goalposts with not a thought about the severe hardship this would bring to thousands of women.

To me this seems like breach of contract.I am affected by being born in 1954 'Lucky to be able to work .I M horrified to hear about the hardship of those who are unable to do so .I wonder how many have not only paid our stamp have also shoulder the home caring tasks,contribute to the finances of the home .and supporting children and grandchildren.I can't help my working daughter so much and am worried should my health fail.I don't remember getting adequate advice ,did some politician /civil servant calculate we would be too busy to notice until it was a done deal ,sorry if I sound cynical .

I think I heard right, on the recent Woman's Hour programme, that those who are widowed before their husband's retire, will not be able to take advantage of their husband's contributions. This means that the widow would have to have full contributions in her own right.

The presenters were surprised at this. Is is another case of 'in the public domain' but few people are aware?

Don't know if it is correct, but I thought I'd mention it.

X

I agree this is so unfair. In my case I have to wait until I am 67 for my state pension. I asked for a statement and discovered that I now need more than the 31 years contributions I have already.
When I asked the DWAP if I could buy some extra years to make it up to 35 the lady on the other end of the phone said to wait as they have no idea which way the government was going to jump and I could waste hundreds of pounds!
I am very confused!

I can only agree with all that's already been written about the unfairness of it all. I was born in 1954 and I'll be almost 66 before I get my pension, despite working most of my adult life, paying my dues, bringing my children up alone and being proud to provide for them without the aid of benefits. Now I am alone, retired on health grounds and have a myriad of auto-immune deficiencies, I find I am scared to heat rooms, worried about buying any luxury items for myself, and I am making as many budget cuts as I possibly can.

NOW should be my time to put my feet up and enjoy the fruits of my labour. Now the children have left home should be a time for me to get out and about. This is my time, yet because of this pension 'robbery' - it IS legalised robbery - my circumstances are a worry. Without my small occupational pension I'd be sunk. I applied for a job at the age of 59 and was amazed to be appointed. Who wants to go back to work when they've already been declared unfit for work on health grounds? I need the extra income to eek out my pension.

It should be so different for me and many many other who have the misfortune of being born in 1953/4. We are losing over £30,000 worth of pension - a pension we were promised when we worked. I have to keep going for five more years before I get the benefits my older sister is enjoying now. It is so wrong!

I was born December 1953, and have to wait until I'm 65yrs 3mths (March 2019)
I've worked full time ever since I was 17, apart from two years when I had my children.

It stinks.

It could have been softened a bit by letting us have a bus pass at 60 and stopping NI contributions at the age that they would have stopped before the last reform.

More should be done to encourage people to use public transport.

Bagatelle I think we deserve more than you suggest.

My vote goes to gradually phasing in the reforms. It's really not right that someone spends their whole adult life planning to retire at 60, only to be told at the last minute that they won't get their pension until they are 66.

Sadiesnan I don't disagree but it has to start somewhere; we had warning of the first change, which was bad enough, and it was the second change that really got my goat.

We were told in 1995 about the first change, that the pension age for women would rise to 65 slowly from April 2010 to April 2020. It's the second change that was sprung on us, in 2011.

"We" were not all told. Many knew nothing of this. Others, like me, heard it on the news, and assumed they would be informed, which didn't happen.
Some women asked the DWP what their retirement age would be, and were given wrong information.
It's bullying on a massive scale.

I don't know why others weren't told, but I certainly had notification well beforehand that I wouldn't get my state pension until I was 62. Perhaps only those who were working and therefore in the 'system' were informed?

I do agree that the later sudden change was very unfair.

I was teaching on supply in 1995 but not in any pension scheme. I was in the system in that I was paying NI, but that was all.

I was born in 1962. I have worked full time (in the private sector) from the age of 16 (taking only weeks out of work when I had my 2 children).

At the last calculation I will be 67 when I eventually retire although I imagine the figure will have moved several times before then.

I went to school with several people who were fortunate to work in the public sector. Four of whom have already retired (aged 55) and others who are retiring later this year.

How can this be possible and fair?

I was also born in 1954 so I am in a similar position to Sadiesnan. My husband is 69 and we had planned our retirement but now have no way of finding the extra money we would have had. If I still lived in Scotland at least I would have my bus pass.

It's made possible by paying into your occupational pension. gillybob, just as people in the private sector do (or don't, if they're amongst the very lucky few who are in a non-contributory scheme). Police officers, for example, typically pay in 12.5% of their income to give them their public sector pension. Agreed benefits for those retiring today were much more generous than they are for people starting out now.

It's really nothing at all to do with the state pension, and it would be a shame if this very important issue were sidetracked by another private versus public sector debate.

I was made redundant into early retirement in my 50s, so got an income from my occupational pension when I retired but even then I did not get the full amount of my work pension as I had been making additional voluntary conributions into my company scheme to beef up a pension that I had not started to contribute to until I was over 40, those did not provide an income until I was 60. Towards the end of my truncated working life I was paying about 20% of my salary towards my pension, as well as NI contributions

I did not get my state pension until I was 60, which when I reached that age, was still the retirement age for women.

I am not trying to sidetrack the discussion into a public v private sector Maggiemaybe I am just asking the question. How on earth much, would anyone have to pay into an occupational pension to enable them to retire (and live comfortably) 13-14 years early? Which is the time span I am talking about.

Many of my health visitor friends who've worked in the NHS from 18 can retire at 55. I had this very conversation this morning. They are concerned about commissioning and how it could affect their pension. I don't know if the newly qualified get this. I suspect not

Sorry I'm not sidelining just adding some info for [Gillybob]

I too was born in 1953, but December. I wont get myvstate pension until November 2018. How can this be fair? I feel that Ive been robbed of nearly 5 years of pension. I have never received any notification from government.

It is extremelyunfair, I had a pensions forecast then year or so later another letter saying I wouldnt get pension until am 66. No bus pass either!
My friend who is 63 gets both I am 61 born 1954 and is very hard to have no state pension for so long, I didn't pay into private scheme.

I expect money had to be freed to pay benefits, a friends eldest son lives in nice flat, never worked and his girlfriend the same, she received
benefits backdated more than 2,000 and they have. Had nice spend up, not sure where the austerity cuts come into this. Yes people who worked all their lives like myself get penalised. It is dreadfully wrong.

I thought I read somewhere benefits were being cut not increased?!

I was born in Nov 53, I thought (according to my last pension statement) that I would get SP at 65 but reading this; am worried that it has gone to 66+.
I was forced to leave teaching at 60 because of the ageist bullying that goes on in that profession. I have 42 years NI contributions because I left school at fifteen, worked hard and took all my qualifications in the evenings.
I do have my teacher's pension but it is not enough to pay mortgage so I am selling up and moving into a static caravan!! Thank you Tony Blair; Gordon Brown, David Cameron and all the other politicians and bankers who have lined their pockets at the expense of mine.

I agree with Dragongran. It is not the equalisation of the pension age decided in the late 1990s that seems unfair as that complies with the agreed 'notice' period to facilitate alternate provision.

1) It is the absence of personal notification of how that affects individuals given that transition provisions mean that it affected individuals differently based on their dob. In fact I was proactive in seeking information from the DWP so got the information.

2). In particular the double whammy of further extending the pension date introduced by the last government (Cameron/Clegg) is an absolute disgrace as it does not comply with parliament's own guidance on the amount of time that should be given when such changes are to be introduced.

3). Men, too, are affected by this but not nearly to the same extent as women. The lifetime earnings of women are well documented to fall far short of men still. The Office of National Statistics put the gap at nearly 40% less for women...well over (on average) £200,000 less than men in lifetime earnings gaps. This is in part because of time out from work to care for children and increasingly elderly parents resulting in gaps in pension contributions into occupational/private pension plans as well as interrupting career progression to higher paid work. This means that women are hit twice...once by an inability to pay into pension funds to the same degree as men and secondly by by the exceptionally short period of time given to make up the gap by the accelerated extension determined in the last Parliament.

Furthermore this second hit is at a time of life when it is much MUCH more difficult to get well paid work (age, illness and care for aging parents) and in an age when divorce is more frequent than 40 years previously, so missing out on spouse pensions.

4). If the government can find £billions (found in part by changing the pension age so quickly) to fight wars it should be able to find money to equalise the provisions for women. Time we stopped lying down and taking it. Time to keep protesting through your MPs. I will say that I watched a select committee discussion on Parliament TV and this was well supported by many MANY MPs across political parties although the current Conservative Minister for DPW maintained support for the current position in a deeply unimpressive speech.. Don't complain unless you stand up and be counted. Go to your local MP with your story if you have been badly affected. They can only be as good as their constituents' evidence.

Born Apr.1954 and worked from 16 through unequal pay and no maternity leave, then part time after children so unable to join private pension scheme until comparatively recently. Lower p/t pay because of children and aged parents meant I could only contribute as much as I could afford to private pension. Supported self through Open University after work. NI 40+ years. Requested pension forecast at 58 and learned the awful truth but had never been written to although lived here 35 yrs.

Unexpectedly made redundant July at 61. NO proper jobs for 60+ women, only shifts,low paid or zero hours. JSA now stopped. Will have to wait until nearly 66 for SP. After working all my life, now have zero income and have to rely on husband's pension. I feel betrayed by Government - I have always done what was right, paid in and never had the benefits which some now take for granted.

My own MP (Con.) is not interested and just had "brush off" letter. Hope Government can be made to listen and understand what this means to "normal" (not rich) hard working women with not even a bus pass to help them.