raising pension age

growstuff I could not agree more. China, with its laws restricting numbers of children has proved that. They soon realised that they had to change their minds before they ran out of workers to support the elderly and sick.

Trouble with that is that the new young ones in their turn need support and the population continues to balloon.
That is why I say that it would take a greater brain than mine to come up with a solution.

Yes, MissAdventure, The King's Fund research claims that there is a 19 year "good health" gap for men between the least and most affluent areas. That suggests that men in the least affluent areas start to experience poor health in their mid 50s.

Gabriella, I normally ignore your posts but that has to be one of the most smug, self satisfied posts I've ever seen on GN. How wonderful for you that you have so much disposable income that you ^forgot about it until they reminded you^; I suspect that there a thousands of people who are dependent upon their state pension as their only income, mainly due to family, job type and personal circumstances that prevented them from having a private pension.

And a stressful job is indicative that they're in the wrong job? Really? Care workers, teachers, nurses etc all have stressful jobs but, thank God they do because without them, we as a society would be f****d without them.

Not only were you born without a worry gene; you also appear to have been born without the empathy gene too.

That is typical of my peer group.
We're all worn out by our mid 50s.

I agree, Tweedle. Population is an interesting topic. The shortage of workers in China is pushing up wages, which means that China will no longer be able to produce bargain basement goods. The government has also implemented very strict anti-pollution laws, which will probably increase life expectancy and also increase the price of produce.

Glad you wrote that, Chewbacca. I didn't dare!

*gg54g

Nearly 2 million pensioners live in poverty. I suspect that you were also born without an empathy gene.

Paddyann I think our birth dates are very close, judging from your posts and I agree completely with you that we received no warning about the deferred SRPA. I also received a letter, when I was 55 confirming that I had built up sufficient NI contributions to claim a full SRP at 60. At 58, I received another letter telling me that I couldn't claim it until I was 62. Then nothing more. It was only by seeing information in the media, or looking on YouGov that I kept track that I could claim until I was 65.5. The repeated changes, always just a matter of months before the expected retirement age, completely stymied planning for the future.

I'm baffled as to why some people, like growstuff were kept abreast of the constantly moving goal posts and others weren't.

Whitewave, That's a really important point. On average, pensioners are reasonably well off, but the averages hide inequality. Changes brought about by Universal Credit have exacerbated issues. Pensioners are stereotyped as home owners with good pensions and a high level of disposable income. However, as you say, there are many in poverty and the benefit system does little to help them.

It would probably be helpful to see pensioners not as a homogenous group, but to look at levels of wealth and income for all ages across a lifetime.

There is no way I will be able to teach much more than another 3 or 4 years (54 now). It's ok for the elite who ponce about in a pretend job. What about those of us who work 70 or 80 hour weeks?

THIS boy s why we need Corbyn and Labour. Whatever your opinions about him, this farce won't happen with him at the helm.

This is why

Chewbacca, I followed the news and read newspapers, especially the Budget. I knew from the mid 90s and have tracked the changes since then, including the changes to eligible years and the rules for people who "opted out" by paying into an occupational pension. I will have 47 eligible years by the time I'm 66.

I'm not so sure about that, GagaJo. He's 70, isn't he? He might think that if he can be a PM hopeful at his age, anybody can carry on working.

I knew in 1996 that my pension would be paid at 61, not 60. At the time I was 43 and an extra year was insignificant. The goalposts were moved again in 2011, when I was 58. Suddenly I wouldn’t get my pension until I was 64 and three months, although someone born the day before me would get hers on her 64th birthday.

I fully appreciate that pension ages needed to be synchronised but the way 300,000 women were treated was scandalous. All my friends got/are getting pensions at different, apparently random, ages. Why didn’t they just make it 65 for all of us, then increase it in line with men?

The unfairness is what makes me angry. And the double whammy.

Caledonail4
IDS proposing to raise retirement age to 70 by 2018?
Did you mean 2028?

Gagajo
Come on ...
Expecting us to believe that you work a minimum of 10hrs a day 7 days a week. ??

A brief history of the old Age Pension, more recently the State pension, which might help to explain why the age should increase.

The OAP was brought in in 1908 for people aged over 70. Only 1 in 4 reached that age and the life expectancy (LE) at age 70 was a further 9 years.

In 1925 a new type of pension was brought in based on contributions from both the employer and the employee. This started at age 65 and if a man was married he had to wait until his wife reached 65 before receiving the pension.

In 1940 the age for married woman was reduced to 60 so that men would start to receive their pension as soon as they reached 65.

Life expectancy at birth (LEB) has increased dramatically over the last century. For those born in 1900 LEB was 48.5 for men and 52.4 for women. For people born in 1950 the LEB was 71.5 for women and 66.4 for men.

LE for women is still higher than it is for men and so it seems a little unfair that women should receive the State Pension before men.

We know that people are living longer and assuming that most people work between the ages of 20 and 65 some will be receiving the SP for 25 or 35 years.

The NI contributions paid by us baby boomers funded the State pensions of our parents and grandparents. But they didn't live that long after retirement. My own father didn't live to receive the state pension and my mother died a couple of years after receiving it. The contributions are intended to pay for several state benefits - widows/bereavement allowance, incapacity and sickness benefit and maternity allowance. The contributions of your children and grandchildren (I don't have either) are funding our retirement.

What we should be looking at are ways in which work can be continued in ways that suit the person. Obviously we cannot expect people during heavy manual jobs or even those who work in the police force or the fire service to continue doing those jobs.

Whilst I agree that the pension age should be increased I don't think that IDS or indeed any of the Tories are the people to talk about. Most of them, provided that they keep their seats could continue to work as MPs until over 70. They can only draw their pension once they have reached 65 and are no longer MPs. Many of them will get well paid directorships - eg John Redwood who apparently receives a salary of £250,000 as a consultant to Charles Stanley (investment advisers).

Both I and my husband, having been self employed for most of our adult life do not receive the full state pension as we have missed some years of NIC during our youth. We are also victims of the Equitable Life debacle. We ceased paying contributions into private schemes after EL and so only have small private pensions. Because of increased life expectancy the pension pots buy smaller annual pensions than they once did. So, at the age of 72 I continue to work. I still want holidays and good quality specs although I no longer buy shoes from Russell & Bromley. M & S or Hotter for me now!

Gagajo GagaJo

GabriellaG54, I get to work by 7. I work all day, usually eating my lunch at my desk, although often doing detentions at lunchtime in my classroom while eating. I make sure I'm prepped for the next day before leaving school. I never leave before 6 and am often there later. My work begins after the students leave and after the interminable meetings end (some finish at 4, some go on until 5).

When I get home, I then have marking to do. 5 classes of +30 books to be marked every 5 lessons e.g. Once a week. Each book, approx 20 mins. You do the maths.

Colleagues of mine who are new teachers work past midnight. I refuse to work past 10pm. I work most of Sunday.

I'm nothing special. A typical teacher. Yes, I work a huge amount of hours. No, I can't do it much longer. I'm too old.

Did I mention I'm an examiner for Cambridge too? Marked 350 papers in a month this summer.

You are rude and out of touch with how real people work. Oh, and I'd like to see YOU stay cool and unstressed with 30, 15 year olds in front of you all day, everyday.

Right wing, over entitlement such as your is the cause of most of what is wrong in the uk now.

Dinahmo. You have clarified the problem beautifully. Well done.

Well said Gagajo plus add in the factor of care which falls on the heads of most females. I for one left for work at either 6.30 or 7 and didn't get home until 6 or 7 and then had the care of a disabled daughter type 1 diabetic, fits and learning disabilities so tell me how GG54 you can avoid stress when confronted with yet another fit just as you are dishing up dinner?

I was one of the lucky ones who received my pension at 60 which was just as well as ~I was retired on the grounds of ill health at 57, probably caused by the stress. I just wish I was perfect.

If GagaJo is a teacher, she probably does work a 70 hour week.

At least there is one party still fighting for the rights of the WASPI women:

^THE SNP’s Westminster leader has challenged the Prime Minister to end pension injustice for hundreds of women in Scotland. Ian Blackford is urging Boris Johnson to “prove he’s serious about gender equality” by helping the Waspi women. Blackford said the women were “guilty of nothing”, and that the party would “continue to fight for justice for all women affected by the scandal”.

The SNP has called for transitional measures to mitigate the issue, saying that independent research shows the cost at £8 billion, rather than the UK Government’s £30bn figure.

Blackford said: “This issue has run on far too long – it’s time for the Tories to get their heads out the sand and put an end to this serious injustice.

“Waspi women are guilty of nothing – they’ve had the misfortune of being female, born in the 1950s and live under a reckless UK government who refuse to do what’s right^ .

The ship for justice for Waspi women has sailed. As more and more of us reach the age of our pension being paid, the relevance reduces. Exactly as the government of the time intended. The can’s been kicked too far down the road now.