Is Ann Widdecombe right about females age of reirement?

Pension equalisation for women was first addressed by the 1995 Act, which gave all us affected many years to plan our retirement. The game-changer was the Tory government's targeting the same women in their 2011 Act, which put back our pension date further. This was certainly not enough time to make financial arrangements. It was absolutely disgusting and only the Tories would get away with such a scam. I retired at 61 due to the fact that I have occupational pensions, but I really feel for women who have to struggle on in demanding, or poorly paid jobs. They wouldn't even have attempted to do this if it had been men. They thought these women were a pushover. Thankfully due to WASPI they have found that is not the case! It will be very interesting to hear the result of the judicial review - although the Government have probably got some tame judge lined up to do their bidding.

Meant to add that many women in their 50’s and 60’s are now expected to work on but still look after their elderly parents and their grandchildren too.

I don’t think working 6 hours without a break is legal at all, but having said that neither do I think it’s unusual. My DD often tells me that she has had no break whatsoever as they have been too busy and there was no one to take over from her to enable even a short sit down. She works for a huge chain.

On the subject of AW and retirement age. There is one thing working on until you are 70+ doing something you love and are fully able to do at an advanced age, but another thing entirely working on doing something you detest and struggle with, but are forced to do just to make ends meet. Those who were fortunate enough to retire at 60 with their pensions are VERY lucky indeed. With a retirement prediction of 67 and 4 months I fully expect never to retire.

Oh course she is correct and men and woman ought to retire at the same age. In fact given the average life expectancy of both men should perhaps be able to retire earlier.

But the whole issue has been so badly managed that no wonder the WASPI women are fuming. This should have been introduced very gradually and everyone kept informed. As it didn’t affect me I’m only going on what I read and, if people are telling it straight, then it wouldn’t seem the information wasn’t sent to individuals AND dates kept being advanced.

Do I have thar correct?

However the woman is a complete big-mouth and is always on the look out for opportunities to self-publicise.

Is she really only 71? Thought she was much older than that ???

Urm I was going to make the point about unions.

X posts maryeliza
I was referring to:

maryeliza54 Sun 28-Apr-19 22:10:23

Have to agree with you again maryeliza

And Katyj your sweatshop conditions sound illegal? I was of the opinion a break is mandatory after 4 hours? Even if it’s only 20 minutes. Must look it up.

Then again, THAT is exactly why we used to have unions to represent us. I’d put money on the fact that none of you are in one otherwise you could request an outside official comes in to discuss the situation with your management.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

My retirement date was moved twice! The coalition government in 2011 moved it by a whole year with only 6 years to go, and I was not notified.

That sounds very harsh Katya , I’m slightly older than you, and continue to work, but in a far more easy going environment.
It’s certainly harder as we get older, with all the aches and pains, It seems like your employer is very inconsiderate, and would probably get a lot more from his workers, if he eased up a bit

I'm 62 dh 4 years older,retired last year.We should be retired together now.I've just read online that my retirement age is 66 and 6 months ! No notification yet. Nobody seems to take into account, the jobs people do, I work in what amounts to a sweat shop, I'm pressured everyday to do more work, told my age isn't taken into consideration, and I'm in pain a lot of the time, we have to work 6 hours without a break which is over lunch time, so I sneak a cereal bar when I can just to keep going.Luckily I'm part time, but feel so sorry for the other ladies that live alone, so have to work full time. AW need to have a look at some of these factories, and see what hard work is.

Fair point quizqueen though to be really fair not all benefits go to abusers of the system. Benefit....a payment made by the state or an insurance scheme to someone entitled to receive it. It's the entitled bit that is tricky.

I feel that the media have a part to play in portraying the negative side of the benefit system and honestly are they always to be believed?

As for putting myself forward to be an MP - no way - would you, or have you?

Also, everyone had a chance to put themselves forward to try to become an MP like Ann Widdecombe did, but I guess they didn't!

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

I could have retired at 60 but personal circumstances meant I had to continue working till 65. My employers made it as difficult as possible as they could not force me to retire by law. I made the decision that the stress was too great so my health was deteriorating and I chose a few extra years with my DGC rather than a bigger pension. Luckily I had a work based pension (although I had been forced to cash in part of it in the early years of my marriage to make ends meet!) And yes I still pay tax on it.

Luckily I was too old to be one of the WASPI women but I feel so sorry for them and the added stress as a result of how this was managed.

Am I too cynical in believing that this is a form of euthanasia? Being forced to work longer and longer, for both men and women will inevitably lead to a shorter life expectancy. Throw in a failing NHS to help. Of course well paid MPs, Lords, Ladies and Royalty will be exempt, Ms Widdecombe included!

I just can’t get my head round a) the whole issue of notification b) how the coalition got away with the 2011 changes. But then to be fair, look what else they got away with. Huge numbers of people were shafted and yet DC was returned in 2015. They set us all against each other and whilst we were busy squabbling and blaming each other for our problems, the rich got richer and inequality has never been so great. Look what happens on GN - shrieks of horror at a suggestion that the triple lock may go and yet only about 2/3 posters have shown any concern at all about the freeze on working age benefits since 2015.

I didn’t get personal notification either paddyann. The whole shebang was a stitch up during the austerity measures. Maybe bloody Clegg was trying to outdo Cameron with this wheeze? (thanks maryeliza for your confirmation of how I remember events at the time).

Who knows? Backto60 might just be successful yet in their appeal in the High Court on 6th June.

In many income groups, life expectancy is going down, so this idea “we are all living longer” is becoming inaccurate..

Ms Widdicombe needs to see the reality of the Waspi women.My friend was diagnosed with cancer and early dementia when she was 59 .She has had the treatment and is hopeful of a complete recovery from the cancer ,however she is expected now to get a job ..in an area where there are no jobs for older women .Not many for young folk either to be fair ,but no one will take on a woman who is now 62 and has health issues.She's expected to survive on jobseekers allowance and gets part of her rent paid.She's worried sick about money and thats not good for her health.She phones me in tears some nights because she is so stressed .She like me and millions of others believed we would get our pensions at 60.Neither of us have any issue with equalising the gender age gap BUT they made a right old mess of how it was done and they have left many in dire straits .I'll get mine(allegedly) at the end of this year ,she still has 4 years to go neither of us has ever had any communication from the DWP about pensions .

It did start off in a measured way Urm it was the Coalition that destroyed that. However there is still the issue of how women were notified. The original legislation was 1995 and the rise to 65 was to be phased in from 2010-2020 so in theory about 15 - 25 years notice of a very gradual change. It was the 2011 changes I believe that were so draconian and with much less notice and upped the age to 67.

I agree with you maryeliza the increased age for provision of the SP for women needed to be addressed but it should (could) have been introduced in a measured way. I’m pretty certain Nick Clegg (damn him) in the coalition hastened these changes by a full 10 years at a swipe. It was meant to be phased in more gradually to give women chance to plan for it.

Here here Ilovecheese!
Excellent point mycatisahacker
When they change the rules no thought is given to ordinary workers who have been making plans according to the rules they paid into. Wear and tear affects individuals differently and if it wasn't for being frugal and the silent and more vocal volunteers out there, well, don't get me started!

You only have to look at the House of Lords to see how a life of privilege allows you to live so long. How lovely for them.

Not so for teachers, police officers, builders, nurses etc.

Well said Wobbles. I've known 2 or 3 people who've died of late within either less than a year or two of " late " retirement. Late retirement sucks ! As do politicians.
I'm so against it for one of the reasons that you've mentioned, about giving the youngsters a chance. They haven't got a hope in Hell of a job let alone buying a house.

How are the younger generation going to be able to get jobs and pay into a pension while people over 65 remain working?

She's 71, time she retired.