If your in-laws died decades ago, JenniferEccles, they could conceivably have heard about the first hike to our pensions, brought in by the 1995 State Pension Act (24 years ago), but they certainly didn't know about the acceleration to that which was announced 8 years ago. Many of us lost another 18 months when that came in in 2011.
If we'd all known about the issue and kicked up a stink back in the 90s, perhaps George Ruddy Osborne wouldn't have got away with the 2011 hike. He famously boasted to an international forum that this was one of the least controversial things his government did, and one that probably saved more money than anything else. I'm sure he's very proud of himself.
I hope you get the full pension, paddyann, after the long wait. Of course HM Government played another blinder when introducing the Universal State Pension, when they decided that any years in which we had opted out of the state pension (as we were advised to do back in the 80s and 90s) would no longer count towards the basic pension, as they had done previously. Oh, and nor do years worked before the age of 18, when of course many of our age group started work at 15.