A group of women will appear at the High Court today (5 June) for a judicial review on how the government raised the state pension age for women.
The women, born in the 1950s, claim the raised age is unfair because they were not given enough notice to make adjustments to cope with the extra years without a pension.
Under the 1995 Pensions Act, the government decided that the pension ages of both men and women would be equalised at 65 by 2020, and the age has been rising at an accelerated rate since 2010.
The state pension age will also increase from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
Campaign group Backto60, which is bringing the judicial review, wants the government to repay pensions to people born in the 1950s, who would now be coming up to state pension age but in many cases will have to wait, or be unable to retire.
One of the campaigners, Yvonne Robinson, said the changes meant she had lost out on £45,000 and that she will have to continue working four days a week, six years longer than she had planned.
The women argue that they were not given enough time to plan for the delay until they can claim the state pension of up to £168 per week.
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said that the increases had been clearly communicated.
They said: “The government decided more than 20 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality, and this has been clearly communicated.”
The government has claimed in the past that repaying these pensions would cost more than £70bn.
The campaigners argue that the motivation for the review is not about equality, but that the lack of notice left many women at a disadvantage.
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A spokesperson for another campaign group, Women against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), said “we do not accept the unfair way the changes to our state pension age were implemented with inadequate or no notice”.
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79 comments
Since when is 20+ years inadequate notice ?
All they have to do is keep working until state pension age, like men have always had to do.
It’s an uncomfortable truth that equality is not a one way street.
Might one suggest in contrast that women pensioners repay to government all the pensions they received in the past between the ages of 60 and 65 ? – as equalisation should have occurred a long time ago.
Yes but you forget up to a few years ago women who worked part time could not have a workplace pension
Is there anything that can be done retrospectively on this. I worked 10 years part time with the NHS and couldn’t join the pension scheme. Aby advice is welcomed. Thank you
Absolutely agree with you, equality all the way. Then women can have all their pay backdated to be equal to that of their male colleagues. Equalisation should have occurred decades ago.
Very good point and then our pensions could be recalculated on the increased salaries.
Also, though, what has been missed is expectation – since we started contributing to pension funds, we have had the expectation of being able to retire at 60 (in my case, since I was 23, many decades ago) only to have the goalposts moved just as we get in striking distance.
Certainly doesn’t sound fair to me.
You must be new to this issue. Not surprising as the media has had an almost total black out on it for the last 4 years. We were not given ANY notice. This is the point. I still have not received any information that my SP will be delayed, 4 years AFTER I expected it. The EU advised 15 years minimum advance notice should be given where MAJOR changes to the SP will occur. We got NONE. The 20 years in question refers to what the Government knew in advance, but did not share with the public. The Government COULD HAVE GIVEN US 20 YEARS NOTICE BUT GAVE US NONE. As for equality, we do not have an issue with this. We accept pensionable age should be equal, but it should take into account the differences in the effects of ageing on men and women – which is not equal. There is no reason why men and women could not both retire aged 60, and if they wish, continue working on after this. The excuse that it would cost the country too much, is false. Other countries of similar wealth pay higher pensions with lower retirement ages. And, we pay for this up front – we could pay more if necessary, as in some other countries. But this latter point is not an issue for this campaign – it is merely my comment to you to explain we are not contesting equality. Before making such an uninformed statement you need to inform yourself. This is a complex issue which has been blocked by the media, so it has not been possible for us to easily inform people. And nobody understands WHY the media has behaved in this way – perhaps any media people out there could comment on why they have treated 50s women so very badly.
My health started to deteriorate before pre menopause (age 53yrs) I worked hard, overworked and then got everything under the sun including a diagnosis of cancer on my 60th birthday ! I had NO NOTICE whatsoever about the rise in my state pension but my husband got notice by letter for himself. My point is, that if I had my state pension at 60yrs as should have been, I would not be as poor, meagre, not being able to work, have any kind of life, cannot afford dental or opticians appts let alone treatments and not able to buy food, (prices of which have risen). I have no savings, no private pension and was relying on my state pension to help me financially. Now I have nothing. Six years (2.5 of which has already passed in hardship and poverty) is a hell of a long time to wait, when you find out you have cancer at age 60yrs. I am not the only woman to whom this has happened and badly affected, I know that. Women (let aside the equality issue) work hard all their lives and many have died before getting their state pension by age 66. We are not living longer and cancer cuts many lives short, oh so many stories i have heard from friends and aquaintances. This is NOT about equality but about justice for those of us who were given NO NOTICE, became ill, unable to work and were expecting to legally get our state pension at 60yrs. I hope and pray that this goes through it will teach this awful uncaring government a lesson or two !!
agree and also think Mens pension age should be Reduced to as in other EU countries.
Announcements were made and information as been out there for years
Hello Helen,
Please do you know of any group/groups that I can join to fight for my rights in losing 6 years of my pension.
I’ll tell you since when, since the majority of us only received 1 or 2 years notice of that decision. If you were told a year prior to receiving your pension that you’d have to wait almost 5 years and then again told you would have to wait yet another 18 months, don’t tell me you would be pleased about it!
I was given no notice of change to my state pension via email or written. Disgraceful state of affairs. Women have been treated badly especially if you were born in 1954
I worked for DWP for 32 years. I received no notices no letters no contact
Not told I would have to continue paying National Insurance for 6 years found this out by chance 6 months ago! Not many women know this either
I have no Reirement Pension til 2021!
yet I have paid 42 years National Insurance
Women are in poverty
It’s an uncomfortable TRUTH that when I started work I was paid half of what a man was for doing the same job.
It’s an uncomfortable TRUTH that I was not allowed to join company pension schemes when I had to work part time to fit around my 3 children unlike my husband who could follow his career.
Its an uncomfortable TRUTH that I got fired for being pregnant.
It’s an uncomfortable TRUTH that because most CARER responsibilities fall to women, children/elderly relatives/grandchildren then the woman can only work part time to fit everything else in, therefore the uncomfortable TRUTH is HER company pension is a third of what the mans would be.
Its an uncomfortable TRUTH that the government have admitted to BURYING the pension changes in the FINANCIAL BROADSHEETS, and it’s an UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH that they could find us to send out tax demands/child allowances but not tell us about the changes.
It’s an uncomfortable TRUTH that in 1974 I signed a CONTRACT to pay a higher amount of NI to get the pension at 60, my other choice would be to pay far less and get pension at 65 like hubby should have.
THESE ARE TRUTHS.
“Hear, Hear!” Many women born in the 1950’s will resonate with your comments. I don’t think younger people understand the inequality and unfairness that women faced on a daily basis in the workplace (and other aspects of life). We had no incentives of free childcare or Government funded nursery places – and it was common place in a job interview to be asked about your family circumstances and childcare provisions ……. if you couldn’t guarantee that family life would not interfere with your work, you would not be considered for the vacancy. Unless you were lucky enough to have supportive family members (many of us didn’t) you were restricted to low paid jobs or struggling/sacrificing without paid employment. We had no option but to take this “on the chin” as it was still considered by employers that women played a minor part in the workplace once they had a family. We have been treated unfairly through the decades and now, because it suits the Government (past and present) we are being told that Equality is paramount and we must, again, “take it on the chin” regardless of the hardship it is causing to millions of us through no fault of our own.
Excellent – I share your truths – As do the other women born in the 50’s – I hope you have provided these truths to your mp as I did?
As a result my truths are now documented in Hansard.
Michèle Carlile
Born 1954
Well said Lynne Meston! Just about all of us 50’s women could say exactly the same thing. Of course it would be FAIR if we women and men could be equal and retire at say, 63, but the TRUTH of the matter is as you have put so well is that there has never been equalisation for us.
Why can’t mens retirement age be brought down to 60- if it’s all about equality? It’s about austerity policies and bailing out the banks.
We paid higher NI stamp to retire earlier for quite some time! Men got credits for 3 years to allow them to retire sooner until quite recently! It’s about the lack of notice to allow planning. We assessed the situation, made irrevocable decisions and the Govt moved the goalposts with hardly any notice. Wrong on all fronts whether male or female. IMO.
Dear Sir,
You are not aware that these women have been in work since 1970s and were paid unequally to men and still are also our NIC co tributions were often low due to poorly paid inadequate part time work due to being carers for parents and children. There has never been any equality for these women and to make the end goal equality is wrong we should in fact enable us to be recompensed for all the years of low wages and unequal treatment
Well sir you may have worked but I’m sure you were not a full time working mother caring for older family and getting home to do shopping cooking washing ironing and everything that goes being a working mum looking after children and to not be told that you are not getting your pension is discussing I have worked all my life and I wouldn’t change it educated my children as well as everything else what right has this government got to not tell us there plans because that is what has happened I have not sat at home reading news papers or watching tv I have worked like most women my age and hard jobs at that with low pay it is not about the equality SIR it’s about the government not informing us do you not see that did your wife work SIR for a minimum wage like most 50s babies have
I found out in 2010 that I could not retire in 2014 and would have to wait 9years and 5 months. No-one told me, I had to enquire!!!
I know it has to be equalised, but to s**t on women born in 1954 was not the best way to go about it.
Did you, as a man get yours on your 65th?
Lucky you. I was 65 on 2 April 2019, and I am still waiting for mine
I have worked full time all my life, i am 64 have brought up a son on my own. when i could no longer work full time i got a part time job. but had to give it up at the age of 60 due to ill health. I have a heart problem and will have to have a valve replacement.also i have fibromyalgia and severe depression. When i tried to get the personal independent payment it was refused. So not state pension at 60 . to day i am struggling is an understatement. Where can i go for help. If someone knows please reply to me. I live on my own no one to help with my bills. I think i may have to loose my home, this is not a sob story i am in genuine need of help.
You missed the point. We were never told
I think you will find if you read the review report we were not informed therefore were unable to prepare. This is in addition to lower pay equals lower pension unpaid maternity leave. Reduced stamp etc. If men were in the same position they would also be aggrieved. This is also not a benefit I paid for my private pension which I receive I paid for my state pension which I do not
Don’t think so, where is Equality today? Once equality exists then we can look at retiring at the same age!
Men were always going to retire at 65 – they put yours up by a year.
Would you like to wait a extra 6 years? I don’t think so.
You are missing the point and need to look at the details. Most of these women have worked for most of their lives and also juggled work with bringing up their children.
As I say look at the details but,Tell me, short noticed aside, where is it fair that women born in 1953 received the state pension well before they were 66 ie 60 -61yrs – and those born in 1954- or less than a year later, as in my wife’s case, who had to wait until she/they were 65.5yrs old, she worked for more than 40yrs by the way.
Malcolm
PM look again Boris in some detail, we accept the pension ages had to rise but do it fairly
just a tip if you want some kudos
I have recieved no written notice about my pension age rise i will be 60 next year and will have to wait untill i’m 67 to recieve it. I started work when i was 16 and have worked ever scince. That will amount to 51 years of hard work and payments into the pot. No time to plan for the change. Not fair for men or for women how long do they expect us to carry on for without finally having a rest.
I’m confused by DWP & Government use of the word ‘cost’ £70bn! If it was not their money in the first place where is the ‘cost’? If they misspent £70bn and ~ shall we be polite ~ borrowed Stakeholders pension funds, surely they must pay it back? If they misappropriated Stakeholder pensions, surely they are criminally liable? What say you?
Totally agree with you, it’s a lie to say woman had adequate notice. I for one had no notice at all, no letters from DWP. I paid in, they should pay out.
Hello carol I never got any communication from anywhere regarding this myself, I’m 64 and have just found out I will have to work till 66 although I thought it had gone from 60 to 65. I was made redundant in April of this year no redundancy pay only been there 14 months, I have applied for a lot of jobs and I’m getting no where, I need a sedentary job I normally flat sew and overlock in the rag trade as I’m really getting that I cant stand for 8 hrs a day, I think even though an employer can’t show ageism they do have a problem. I am only just learning that there are lots of ladies like me born in the 50s who are mobilising and trying to fight it.Regards Sylvia.
You sound to be in the same boat as me. Born July 1954 and pension due next May; I get tons of interviews as I have worked all my life as well from the age of 16 as a secretary, both legal and medical; but now it seems ageism is creeping into play although no-one admits it. I must have had 25 interviews in the last 6 months and am still not selected although a few years ago I would have been snapped up; it’s so so wrong that we were not given the opportunity to retire at 60, life would have been so different
Well sir you may have worked but I’m sure you were not a full time working mother caring for older family and getting home to do shopping cooking washing ironing and everything that goes being a working mum looking after children and to not be told that you are not getting your pension is discussing I have worked all my life and I wouldn’t change it educated my children as well as everything else what right has this government got to not tell us there plans because that is what has happened I have not sat at home reading news papers or watching tv I have worked like most women my age and hard jobs at that with low pay it is not about the equality SIR it’s about the government not informing us do you not see that did your wife work SIR for a minimum wage like most 50s babies have
John, I agree with you. The money this government appears to waste is scandalous. I am a 50s woman with over 37 years paid into National Insurance, I am still working full time and still paying into NI. I will not get any extra pension for the extra amount I am paying in. What’s more, I never got any letter from the DWP at anytime stating that we would have to work until age 66 (in my case) before receiving the old age pension. The government should be ashamed of holding back this group of women’s hard earned dues.
As state pension is around £5000 per year how can a woman claim to have missed out on £45000 over five years? I was born in August 1950 and missed out on 5 months’ state pension. My sister, born in 1954 missed out on 4 1/2 years state pension. We both knew about it well in advance and, although we didn’t approve, we had to accept it. It beggars belief that grown women claim to have not known about the change and now claim to have “lost” over £40000.
I was widowed at the age of 50 in 2005, I had not worked for a while and decided to seek work. When I sought work at the Dept of Employment I was told by them (a Government department) I need not worry or feel I had to find a job as I would be receiving my state pension within 10 years. I have never, at any time, received notification from the DWP about my state pension – I am another of those who received no notice whatsover!
The full state pension is around £8000.
I was born August 1957. I received a letter In 2013 telling me about the pension age increase. I was only given 4 year’s notice.
Pension is approx £164 per week x 52 = £8,528 per year.
In my case 5 years 9 months to wait = £49,036
and women over 60 are still having to pay NI contributions for extra 6yrs as well
All I can say to that is you and your sister were of a minority in receiving information about the change because I and many like me did not. It’s not a question of just getting on with it. There’s injustices here that should be addressed
I am a grown women born in 1955 and didn’t know I wouldn’t be able to retire until 2 years before my 60th birthday. That didn’t give me time to do anything about it.
Remember ladies. The only way to get our useless politicians to do the right thing, is to remind them, the four plus millions of you have a vote, USE IT.
6 yrs pension plus still paying tax on salary that is still being worked for. I was given 5yrs notice of change and have had to make big changes to my life. I work in an operating theatre part of my role is moving and positioning patients. Many of these patients are getting larger and I am getting weaker. Have had 2 shoulder ops and now have problems with arthritis. I am having to finish work at 63 and use my savings to top private pension for 3 yrs.
Don’t understand! Your sisters lucky I was born October 1954 but don’t get pension until 66 adding 6 yrs.
Listen carefully, we DiD NOT receive any notice whatsoever, NOTHING! If you are living before aged 60yrs in illness and poverty, another 6 years (i was born 1956) is a hell of a time to wait to get the money one has paid into all through a hard working life. State Pension is £500 + per month currently which comes to £6000 per year.for a woman waiting an extra 6 years for her pension that comes to £36000 that she has been diddled out of. the government should have given plenty of notice to people, but most of us got no notice at all and ended up in poverty as a result. It is okay you may think if you have work already, some of us have had vastly different lives and have no work at all. Some have committed suicide, become seriously ill and died and will never get nor their family ever get what they paid into the pension scheme all their working lives. totally unfair !
I totally agree with you Maggie I don’t know where this figure of 40 thousand plus comes from. Also these ladies need to look at the difference in what they will receive I worked from 15 to 68 with about 2 years off when my children were small part ti email for a few years and full time for 35 plus years, my pension is over £2000 a year less than the new pension and the gap will increase.
Maggie, how did you hear about it? you didn’t explain how you heard about it, you didn’t get a letter from the DWP because they only started sending them out 18 months before the first ladies would be effected. By law the government had to give every person effected by this major pension change a minimum of 15 yrs notice of this change and in writing, you or any other women received this notice. you and your sister may be ok financially but millions of women aren’t, not only that but for a century. Women, yourself included, have been on lower pay for doing the same job as a man, yet when these women reach what they think is their retirement date the government goes hahaha. Not only did you do the same work as a man for 45 yrs you now have to keep working for an extra 6 yrs because you want equality and many of these ladies still doing the same jobs as men and still on less money. They are the facts, 15 yrs written notice, but women had no written notice, this is EU law , we are in the EU and that law overrides anything else, UK law as to work with in and abide by EU law. Maggie you be supporting women of your own age whom may be less fortunate than yourself and whether its £20,000 or £40,000 is irrelevant, I assume from your comments that if Micheal Mansfield QC wins the ladies case, you wont be claiming your unpaid pension, it sounds like you’re not interested in it or, can afford not to claim it. In that case, good luck to you…
How did your sister get hers after 4 1/2 years? I was born 02 04 1954 and I don’t get mine till 6 Sept 2019I
And no-one told me. I had to find out myself in 2010
Good for you. But if you had been born in 1956 your state pension age would have been increased by 6 years without notice!
My concern regarding my pension is that I was born in 1954 and was told by the government that my pension would be paid to me when I became 64, but then they changed the date without notice to pension age of 66 years. I agree that pension age for women should be in line with men, but women born between 1953 and 1954 have been treated unfairly as we were not notified with sufficient notice to amend our own private pensions to cover these extra 2 years we are to work.
At the time the government announced the extra years to be worked they said that they would compensate us for having to wait the 2 extra years. I have not heard anything about that statement to date.
I totally agree with you. I too was born in 1954 & had the same information you had and I worked for the dwp at the time of the change from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance, leaving just before universal credits came into play. I can’t see a future where I don’t work, my rent alone is almost all of my current quoted state pension that’s without the increase that will be inevitable in private and state run rental properties. I work full time always have done from age 15 & have little to show for it, had I had equal pay I would now have been financially secure but I’m far from that! This government has treated women born between 53 & 54 especially bad. If the roles were reversed men would have fought for and won equal pay and better pension rights,women’s voices are smaller,considered insignificant that’s why we have to go to extremes in order to just be treated as equal. When will this country wake up!
” my rent alone is almost all of my current quoted state pension that’s without the increase that will be inevitable in private and state”
There is such a thing as housing benefit unless you have savings over £16,000.You often see people saying my rent is nearly all my pension,can’t understand it,if you are entitled to it then claim it,if not then you don’t need it.
I too have worked since the age of fifteen. Paid national insurance all my life . Have gone through Breast cancer and very lucky to still be here . Have worked hard to buy my own property which wasn’t and hasnt been easy and not once but twice they have put our pension up . From 60 to 63 now 66 what a joke !!!! Good on you wasabi woman keep fighting for what we deserve and paid into all our lives .
I was never notified of the changes in my pension age and I was born in 1954. My husband died in 2013 and I rent a house which has left me in a very vulnerable situation as I am one of the women who has had to wait 6 years. I know that I can’t make 6 years and there is no help out there. I have got on my bike and increased my work as much as I can but I also have diabetes and I am worried most of the time! My husband was 1 year older than me and would have qualified for his state pension in June 2018 but no transitional arrangements were made for me to receive his in the interim which would have been sensible. There will be many more homeless women this year if we do not receive some help!
I started work as a secretary in the NHS aged 17 and the plan was that I would receive both of my pensions at 60. I have now paid in for 45 years and did not get enough notice about the change of my retirement to 66 so I had little time to save more to allow me to still retire at 60. My husband had to leave work 5 years ago due to cancer so I am the only one working and I will have to carry on doing 4 days a week for another 4 years when really I should have retired 2 years ago and been able to concentrate more on looking after my husband. I have friends 5 years older than me that got their pensions at the age of 62 and I feel it is so unfair just because I was born a few years later than them that I am penalised with having to work 4 years longer than them just because I was born in 1957 and not 1952.
I have no problem at all about retiring at the same age as a man – just needed more notice. My husband will be lucky if he survives long enough to even receive his pension despite working for 38 years.
I am 65 now and had no notice about the increase. In fact I saw Ann from Waspi on the tv! I was then of the first waspi women and I was made redundant on that day too
I was born in 57 worked since i was 15 time out to have children back to work still working 30hours a week health not good but have to work have had no notice from the dwp at all i worry that my health will not hold out for another 4 years hope all goes well at this hearing x
The full state pension is around £8000.
I was born August 1957. I received a letter In 2013 telling me about the pension age increase. I was only given 4 year’s notice.
The equalisation was a mistake, prior to this it as 60 to take into account child bearing years and extra work done in the home, I seam to remember some men could retire at 57, nothing has been said about the women who paid a 4p stamp which gave their husbands an extra amount for them being made up to a full pension. Women will never be equal to men, they cannot earn as much even if they do a similar job. They are taxed sepaeately, but try and claim what you are due, government adds your two pensions together. Too much money?
Maggie; state pension is £168.60 per week x 52 equals £8,767.20 per year x 5/6 yrs equals £43,836/£52,603.20. Hence over £40,000 stolen!
The majority of women born in the 1950s earned a lot less than men so would not be able to afford to pay in to a private pension. I have worked in hospitals for over 30 years and now have painful wrists and hands due to my job. I am 64 years old and will have to work till I’m 66, let’s hope I can carry on doing my work.
My wife was born 1955 and she will not get money till she is 66 plus she only has 33 years of stamps and will still lose out
I to never got a letter or any notice I had to work until 65yrs and still I have to wait til July to receive my pension and I am still having to pay ni I am now 65yrs
was born in 1954 worked since the age of sixteen had ill health with breast cancer I take 10 tablets per day and I am still having to work to pay back all the money I borrowed off family friends to live its just so unfair when i have worked all them years for nothing its just disgraceful taking the 1950s money
I was informed when my husband died in 2004 aged 56 that i would inherit his national insurance contributions as he was fully paid up after serving in the Royal Navy then 25 years prior to his passing at the post office (No letter that i would not recieve my pension at 60 ) I was born Feb1954 .2 years later i recieved a letter stating how much i should recieve on my retirement ,no mention of waiting 5years 6 months longer. When i left school at 15 i was given my national insurance number and retirement date , we married we raised 4 children ,was never encouraged to take a private pension while working ,The workplace pension should have been brought in when goverment decided they were going to change pension dates too little to late ,And as for plucking out dates of 1953 /1954 ,who decided that one ,And before you condemn me for whingeing i am and always have been for equality and believe mens retirement should have been brought back to 60 a much fairer solution than discrimanating 50s women .
I to never got a letter or any notice I had to work until 65yrs and still I have to wait til July to receive my pension and I am still having to pay ni I am now 65yrs
was born in 1954 worked since the age of sixteen had ill health with breast cancer I take 10 tablets per day and I am still having to work to pay back all the money I borrowed off family friends to live its just so unfair when i have worked all them years for nothing its just disgraceful taking the 1950s money
I left school at 15 & have worked for 47yrs paying the full stamp. I expected to retire at 60 but I was one of the most unfortunate people born in 1954 & will need to wait till March 2020 before I receive my pension. I never received any notice of the changes to my state pension. I don’t expect to get my pension earlier but think we are all entitled to some kind of compensation. I feel for the last 5yrs I have been wishing my life away instead of enjoying my retirement.
The £70bn cost would be more than covered if the government paid the many decades of NI that THEY still owe the fund. Also if the government repaid the money THEY took from the fund to pay the NHS and Green Issues. This fund is to pay for Pensions and Benefit. The UK has one of the oldest retirement ages in Europe.
What is this fund? There’s no such thing as a NI fund,it’s part of general taxation. People in work now pay today’s pensions,as pensioners now paid the pensions of people before them when they worked.If you had a ring-fenced NI pot for your own pension,with the effects of inflation,your “pot” would be lucky to last for 4 years!
Once the government have succeeded
In pocketing the pensions of 50s women they will feel justified in targeting MEN. This is just the thin edge of the wedge.
Our government would rather give our pension funds to overseas aid rather than the people who worked all their lives to build up for a happy retirement
””i am in this predicament. I feel violated at having had so many interviews about my health. I won’t receive it when I am 66 because I feel so down and tired. I wish I was not here anymore. I feel like I am a criminal
Gill Long I am in the same position as you. I too wish i was not here,too ill to work live on my own. Its a hopeless situation. Paid full ni contributions and feel i have been left on the scrap heap. Will have to sell my home soon. What will happen then i dont know.
I was not aware that my pension age had changed from 63 yrs to 65. I was not notified until I was requesting my pension, then it was too late. I had to wait another three years.
I too was born in August 1954 and have never had any official notification of my pension date.
It was only because I checked back in 2012 when I was told I would get my pension in 2019 and not 2014 (at age 60)as I had planned for all of my working life.…….and then when I checked again it had been changed to 2020……..let’s hope it doesn’t get changed again !!!
I am quite happy for the pension age to be equalized…………..however it is the way in which this has been done which is unfair…………….it should have been introduced year by year , instead of loading it all onto one set of women…i.e the 1950’s women.
I was divorced in 2007 and my settlement was based upon receiving a state pension at 60 yrs old.
The point is ladies that you can’t plead “ignorance of the law”. The changes were made way back in 1995 and it’s up to you to keep abreast of law. I rode a motor scooter making excessive noise and was charged and fined. I did not know the law on this matter and was told by the court that I can’t plead ignorance of the law. The principle is exactly the same with pensions!
I don’t think the majority of people are claiming ignorance of the law, it is rather the unfairness of the way it was communicated or not. The pension age increase, something which was rushed through “because it was against EU gender equality regulations” has impacted in an ageist way ie penalising people born in some years more than others. The graph should be a straight line and impact everyone at an equal rate, with exactly the sameamount of notice given. That wouldbe fair. The biggest acceleration was in fact decided in 2011, and in signing the papers the then pensions minister describes the fact that both women AND low paid men would be discriminated against by having to work 18 months longer than stated in the 1995 act. No one is (or should be) arguing against eventual equality, but women and low paid men born in 1954, who could perhaps not afford a private pension were described in that paper as being more disadvantaged, so it is not merely gender equality, but workplace benefits, access to pension schemes, health benefits, child and adult care benefits… the paper makes interesting reading as they say they realise it WILL deliberately disadvantage 2 groups…that has in itself to be discrimination? It maybe of interest to those pursuing court cases at themoment?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf
I have worked since I was 14yrs old and was made redundant in Oct 2019 at that time I was 63 years old and paying over £38 per week national insurance. I have never received any letter or email informing me of the change of age re my state pension. I learned this from the media. I am now on universal credits and receiving 673 a month. My rent is £595 I have health problems as well but I am told I still have to find employment. I do not receive my pension until I am 66 yrs old. I would like to know what the government has done with the money I have already paid in on the understanding that I would receive it when I was 60yrs old. Bearing in mind I started paying NI in 1972 . I and thousands of other people believed we would receive our pension at 60. Is this not a default on the contact I believed at 16 when I started paying into the pension? So here I am at 63yrs old going back to the days we had no power (as I can only afford £5 on gas and £5 on elec pre paid meters) so some days I am without heat and light. My flat is a one bedroom basement which I need as I can’t walk up many steps. Back to the old days of making a stew to last for a week as I cannot afford anything else. And here we are in 2020 ? If I am made homeless by the government I will go and live in the Ramsgate tunnels!!!!