Is Ann Widdecombe right about females age of reirement?

I only found out that the retirement age for women had changed when I was 58, I was closing my business down as my eyesight is deteriorating, and the aches and pains I was suffering from made it likely I might make a mistake. I worked 42 years whilst bringing up 5 children, I was never paid the same as men, but at least I could look forward to retiring at 60 so I could play a bigger role in my grandchildren's lives, and look after elderly parent. Now I am 60 I am earning minimum wage, I have worked as a cleaner, but it was very physical, I currently do gardening, also exhausting, and drive special needs school children to school. Hopefully my eyesight, reactions and health will hold up for another 6 years. I worked all those years believing I could retire at 60, and I feel so cheated, I didn't get a letter, I had no idea about what was happening, too busy running my own company.

Well assuming it keeps falling Maggiemaybe by the time I can eventually get my state pension at 67 and 4 months they might only have to pay out for a year or two .

Thank you, crystaltipps for the link.

^Falling longevity has accelerated. Last year’s analysis cut forecasted life expectancy by two months. This year it took off another six months.

Compared with 2015, projections for life expectancy are now down by 13 months for men and 14 months for women.^

That’s a significant change to previous forecasts.

That link doesn’t seem to work but it is still 80+ on average,

life expectancy uk

Come on! The decline is in months and that can be explained by the rising obesity rate linked to metabolic disorders.

The trend now in both the U.K. and US is for a decline in life expectancy, so many will not even live long enough to get their pensions. This appears to be a trend correlated with austerity. So forget the idea that “we are all living longer”.
www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/07/life-expectancy-slumps-by-five-months?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

We are living longer but are we just as productive. Our extended lifespan does not mean we are more able to work longer. A lit of people at 65 may be physically healthy but mentally drained which in turn lessens the physical ability. I also have concerns on just how tolerant the young generation will be working with older people who may well earn more but no longer is a proficient employee. Since the end of WWII the population has increased dramatically as have all the new treatment available to address issues with older people thus extending their life. Again the Governments have known for a long time approximately 60 years that there was a surge in population post war and should have monitored the increase to ensure they had adequate funds for an increase in pensions etc.

Lemmony99 I got my Lancashire bus pass at 60 yrs (12 years ago) even though I worked for another 6 years. Unfortunately the number of buses has decreased so much that I don't get to use it now I need it!! The few that do still run have such roundabout routes it can take half an hour or more to do the 8 minute journey into town and then you have to wait hours for a bus back!

Just because the population now lives longer, how do we justify what is ‘living’. As someone who in the past has worked in residential homes and nursing homes, yes, there were people still living until their late 90’s, but none of them would have been capable of doing any kind of work.

Manual workers bodies are going to generally wear out before workers who had more sedentary jobs. My friends dad passed away recently, he had worked hard all his life, been in the forces, eventually retired at about 68, was dead within a couple of years! I, myself, worked hard all my life mainly looking after others, children when my own were young, then the elderly and adults with various learning disabilities. I reached the age of 59 without too many health problems, then my body decided enough was enough and I got signed off sick and haven’t worked since. I now have to ‘claim’ disability benefits until I am 66 rather than getting the pension I had paid into over all the years I worked. Latterly with 4 different jobs on the go. I stupidly thought by becoming a ‘relief’ worker I could pick and choose how many hours I worked and have a bit more time off with my hubby who had then semi retired. Big mistake if like me, the word no didn’t come easy. I ended up some days going from job a to b to d then c over a period of 24 hours or so. All were responsible jobs, caring for others in one way or another.

So, yes, pensions need to change, but bearing in mind that not all older people are going to enjoy the same level of physical or mental fitness. These things need to be taken into account.

I don’t know if it’s true, but someone told me, in Spain, where I now live, if you retire and draw your pension, you are no longer allowed to do any legitimate paid work. But if you want to carry on working, as some do, your pension pot just keeps growing, so rewarding those wanting to work longer, but letting those who are maybe not so fit, to retire earlier with a pension.

In Lancs you now have to wait for your correct pension age
( but it used to be 60 ) .In Merseyside you can still get it at 60 .Goodness Cared21 , what a good job you pointed that out so helpfully .

Lemmony99
I live in Lancashire but have to wait until I'm 66 for my bus pass. My friend in Merseyside got hers at 60.

Bus passes at 60 are available in Lancashire .
Ann W is a snob .Her opinion of women working will be so distorted because she has never struggled with ill health , children , poverty ,and the myriad of other problems women have to cope with - whilst working .She has no children , no husband and if you read about her life on Wiki , you can see she is no position to make comment about what women should do or not do , as the average woman doesn't own 2 houses , appear in reality TV shows ,
or chat on the radio .

humptydumpty and pebblesterrier Here in Manchester we have a pass which entitles us WASPI women to free travel on the buses and trams. We pay, as far as I remember, £10.50 for the pass. I believe this is to do with devolution of power to the north, on condition that we had an elected mayor.

Ann Widdecombe looks to be in rude health. She certainly had the energy to take part in Strictly and I'm a Celebrity in her 'old age'.

I thought I was as strong as an ox until a few years ago. One illness produced side effects, another sapped my strength and I now rattle with the pills I take. I still have my mobility but I feel my stamina is fading slightly and I have no idea where these new aches and pains come from almost every day. My hands have all of a sudden got loose skin on them? My body is changing quite dramatically.

In my 60s (and a WASPI woman, without state pension) I am able to battle on fortunately, but I am starting to slowly become old. Deterioration is beginning. I am lucky I have only just noticed it, but it's happening, slowly. I am a 'never say die' type, but do these people who pontificate about how long a woman can work have a clue about strength, stamina, and ageing? Many women, now in their 60s have raised children, kept a home ticking over, have gone out to work and looked after elderly or sick relatives, and still play their part in providing free childcare for grandchildren.

It's all very well pitting us against young people but we must remember they too will not be as strong and vibrant in their later working life.

It's almost as if we have become work-horses - in harness until we are completely crocked or flogged until we die on the job.

I know my deterioration would be swift if I still had to get up and go out to work every day at my age. I'd be shattered. As it is, I am cash strapped and cannot splash out like many of my friends, or go mad and live a little because the finances I expected to have now been withheld. It's a poor show.

Looks like future generations will just age, rot and fade away without any decent quality of life in later years after working for most of it. WASPI women are just the beginning of a trend and we need to shout loudly about unfairness. We deserve a decent old age - a time of taking things more slowly. It's inhumane to expect the elderly to keep going.

Pebblesterrier I don't know where in England bus passes are available at 60 in England , here it is at SPA.

I buy the annual prepayment card for NHS prescriptions and on my last renewal recently on the website it said I get free prescriptions at age 60! So I’m getting the 3 monthly ones instead for the remainder of this year. I can’t believe they haven’t changed that - what’s the betting they will before long?

I had a short temp Christmas job at one of the big supermarkets, and if you worked 4hours or more (but less than 6) you got a 15min break, over 6 you got 30 mins. I now work at a smaller local supermarket and get no break for a 4 hour shift, but I did get 10mins when I did a 5 hour one.
There’s quite a bit of heavy lifting involved when moving stock, I’ve got another 7 odd years before I get my pension, and I wonder how I’ll physically manage to cope that long. I’m exhausted after a shift and thankful I only work part time - when I get home I have to start my other full time ‘job’ - I look after a severely disabled husband!

I think to sweep away SP at 60 and then put it up to 65 is appalling. I agree that something needs to be done because it is not a bottomless pot of money but more flexibility should have been considered. For example, I suffer with very early onset arthritis, along with several other debilitating conditions, just as my mother did and her mother before her. It isn't an unwillingness to work, it is an impossibility. Consequently, we will live under the threat of benefits being withdrawn, continual reassessment and the disgust of the general population because we are scroungers. Surely, it is not beyond the wit of Government to assess whether someone is capable of work at pension and have a scheme in place so that an early pension is available to those whose bodies or minds are failing them.

I'm a waspi which is annoying enough. Expecting to retire at 60 ish I now have to wait until I am 66.

Living in Hertfordshire I am unable to apply for a bus pass until my retirement
age.

So why are bus passes available at age 60 in Wales, Scotland, NI, London and a few other counties in England.

Anyone know the answer?

This sounds awful Katyj, as someone said earlier, where are the unions?

AW is never right about anything, and that’s a disgraceful thing to say. She will never be in the same situation as us retired folks and those coming up to retirement.

I have a relative and a friend working for big companies, one of them a supermarket and we all have the same break allowance.This country has gone to the dogs unfortunately.
.

I can't find anyone mentioning that the number of years NI required for a full state pension has changed several times in recent years. It now stands at 35 yrs (ironic as some on here have worked 50+ before they received their SP). Obviously this affects more women than men. Similarly the rules about NI contributions when at home with children have changed several times in our working lifetime.

I too am a WASPI with my state pension delayed twice. But I did receive a notification about when it was originally going to start.

I also heard at the time about the Coalition Government's decision to change it and whilst I'm not a LibDem supporter, I don't recall and have seen no evidence that it was all Nick Clegg's fault!!! He may have been the Deputy PM but that has always been a meaningless role.

Far more likely to be Cameron or Osborne who wanted to cut the public sector borrowing requirement and impose austerity following the credit crash 2 years earlier.

I too hope that the WASPI women will be compensated eventually but one can't expect someone like Ann W who has been receiving state-funded salaries and pensions for so long to agree with this.