Is Ann Widdecombe right about females age of reirement?

Urmstongran The laws have changed your allowed to work 6.30 hours now without a break.And yes I am in a union, so what their doing is all legal and above board unfortunately.

I wouldn't want to inflict my job on anyone, young or old humptydumpty although I don't suppose anyone else would want to do it anyway .

Like you, I work because I have a mortgage and bills to pay and no other income from anywhere.

Oh do calm down maryeliza54. You’ve had your say - this is YOUR opinion and stop saying posters ‘LIE’. Please respect the forum rules.

I always thought the law stated that there should be a break after the 5th hour katyj ? If you are right then I will have to put a stop to the extra tea break our lads enjoy .

Currently they are a bit like the Munchkins from Oz …… who "get up at 12 and start to work at one, take an hour for lunch and then at two they're done.....jolly good fun

I agree with maryeliza's post of 12:32:15.

gillybob
Do you have the same concerns that I do: that in years to come the money has 'mysteriously' disappeared.

I totally agree with Wobbles and have always thought that the most sensible course of action is to ensure that the young generation have employment, rather than older people. They should be the ones to have the jobs, or one day we will find that after years of a lot of them being unable/unwilling to get a job, they won't be employable. Where will that leave the economy when us oldies finally have the rest we need - probably in our graves sadly.

mokryna just out of interest, what type of school do you teach in? Are you full time? I am amazed you want to stay in the job that long.

I think it’s good to carry on working, if you’re able, and you’re getting some pleasure from it, but not everyone can, and some jobs are too physically demanding.
I have real sympathy for a lot of women affected by this

I suppose it boils down to the job a person does and their personal choice. A labourer for example may be desperate to retire ASAP whereas someone spending most of their time seated may feel very different about retirement.

Yes, I share your concerns petra I really do !

It upsets me to think that our lads are pretty much forced to pay into this "mickey mouse" scheme (because that's what they all seem to be) and might end up with nothing at the end of it all, assuming of course that there even is an end?

One or two of our lads originally said they wanted to opt out but it worried me that government might penalise those who did opt out, by reducing their state pensions (again assuming that young people today will ever be able to retire at all). All in all I think it is really just another tax that employees and employers are being forced to pay in order to qualify for a state pension.

Governments all over Europe are telling us that we will have to work longer because we live longer.

What they are refusing to consider is that we have contributed to pension schemes giving us the right to retire at 60, but they are now withholding the money we paid into the scheme until we reach 63 if we are lucky.

They are also ignoring the fact that a great number of people between the ages of 20 and 65 are out of work and desperate to get a job. They are not likely to get one, if the rest of us have to remain at work until we are approaching 70.

They have conveniently forgotten that for years they have told us that the birth-rate was falling, but how do they expect young people to want to start a family, if they are both out of work and living on minimum social security?

I realise we live longer now than our grandparents did, but that does not mean that we are as capable of doing a full weeks work as we were at 30.

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.

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 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.
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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.

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

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?

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 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 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?

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

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.

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.

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 .