Waspi women

[Whynd1]

I am one of those so called waspi women who has been affected by pension changes.
I did not receive any communication from the government about these changes, I have paid my national insurance contributions for over 40 years.

I just hope who ever runs the country try after th3 election that this matter can be resolved. The court case is still in the mix.

I have received an invitation to see Boris Johnson in North Wales. Labour are offering women in my situation a solution.
It seems they are after my vote.
Mmm what to do.

Lindsey

[towny44]

Lindsay, I am not affected by this situation at all, but I am surprised at your comment about not having any information about this proposed change. AFAIR this change was proposed and the glide path to harmonisation was implemented many years ago when the decision to increase the pension age for men was made.
Now whilst I agree that this has resulted in a massive loss of pension earnings to women, it was well known and I certainly realised the implication it would have for women, even without any official communication from Govt.

[GillD46]

I am also one of the WASPI women. I am in the fortunate position that my pension wasn’t something we depended on, a welcome bonus that goes into the holiday account yes, but not something that we needed to live. But many, many women are far less fortunate than me.

I completely agree with equalising the retirement age, totally, but the way it was done, with little or not notice, and little time to make alternative financial arrangements, was utterly despicable.

[Whynd1]

I said I had no communication from the government, yes was aware by press and media. I have no objection to it being bought in line with the men, but we did not have enough time to plan properly.

[Manoverboard]

Planning for one's retirement is surely the responsibility of oneself NOT the Government.

I can of course understand the anger but taxation / benefit / pension rule changes have impacted on virtually everybody over the past decade or more … including myself and Mobietta.

[Onelife]

Hi Lindsey


I thought you might find this interesting.....



The Pensions Act 1995 provided for the State Pension age (SPA) for women to increase from 60 to 65 over the period April 2010 to 2020. The Coalition Government legislated in the Pensions Act 2011 to accelerate the latter part of this timetable, starting in April 2016 when women’s SPA was 63 so that it reached 65 in November 2018, at which point it started to rise to 66 by October 2020. The Government’s initial intention was that the equalised SPA would then rise to 66 by April 2020 (Cm 7956, Nov 2010, Foreword). However, because of concerns expressed at the short notice of significant increases for some women (as much as two years compared to the timetable in existing legislation) it made a concession when the legislation was in its final stages. This limited the maximum increase under the Act at 18 months, at a cost to the Exchequer of £1.1 bn - see Library Briefing Paper, SN 06082 Pensions Bill 2011 – final stages (Nov 2011).



I suppose it could be argued that women should have seen this coming but in their defence the speed in which it was phased in (latter stages) is open to further debate.


I think we have to accept that when OAP was introduced, it was done so on the basis that the Government of the day didn't expect many to live to an age where they would be receiving it.....roll on a hundred years many of us are here to enjoy our retirement.......something the government back then didn't envisage and governments thereafter  didn't plan for.


If you believe Father (Corbyn) Christmas then you will be quids in.....just a shame future generations  will have to pay it back.

Regards

keith  

[towny44]

I said I had no communication from the government, yes was aware by press and media. I have no objection to it being bought in line with the men, but we did not have enough time to plan properly.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 07210.html

Lindsay, the above article was published in 1993 and I imagine that the dept of pensions website has had lots of articles concerning the affect this would have on Women's pensions over the years. As Moby said the responsibility for checking ones pension rights has always been on an individual, which was how and why my wife back paid a missing 3 years of stamp payments so that she was entitled to at least a part pension from 60 until I reached state pension age 5 years later. Different times differing situations but had we not checked this out ourselves it would have been missed, and we would have been several hundred pounds out of pocket.

[Whynd1]

I totally agree Gill.
Thank you for the info Towny.
You can always rely on this forum to have strong opinions.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the implementarion Tony Blair and Gordon Brown during their tenure did nothing to stop it and now it is another Jezzer bribe. Always remember there is no such thing as government money. If one section of society is receiving another is giving.

[Gill W]

With respect to everyone.

The equalisation of male and female state pension ages was announced in the 1993 Budget, with all the normal media coverage that Budgets receive.

Most average people make at least some effort to make themselves aware of what happens in the budget, and if they didn't, then it would have been hard to miss the next day, as everybody was talking about it in workplaces and amongst family and friends. The general view amongst women in my circle at the time was generally ''just our luck, but we agree that the State Pension Ages should be equalised'.

In 1995, when the Act of Parliament was put into law, there was another round of publicity.

About four years ago, when this WASPI issue was first raised, a journalist gave evidence to a Parliamentary committee, and she told them that she had gone back into the archives and found 600 mentions in the media in the late 1990's.

Going into the 2000's the DWP did surveys to check awareness of state pension age. Around 2003, at least 72% of women (higher in older age groups) knew their state pension age.

However, on the back of this, they did a mailing campaign for people born in the earlier part of the 50's

In 2007, the Act of parliament passed, which started the increase to age 66. Again, more media coverage, and I received a letter confirming my new SPA in around 2008/2009.

In 2011, a further Act of Parliament passed, speeding up the previous time tables. Again, much more media coverage. I received a letter in 2013, confirming my revised state pension age.

Therefore, this whole thing about 'the government never told me', is, in my view, a complete red herring. We have a duty to inform ourselves, in in the light of all the publicity that I've mentioned, I think it is almost impossible to have not know that something was afoot. If you didn't know exactly how it affected you, you could easily have made enquiries.

Regarding the timetable. The 1995 timetable was fair and reasonable. It was to be implemented from 2010- to 2020, and gave 15 years notice for the very first increases in SPA, which were small increases in monthly increments.

The real issue is the 2011 Act, that speeded things up. This meant that women got a second, (or in my case a third) increase in SPA. The ones born in 1953 - 1954 were impacted the worst, as they got another 18 month increase at relatively short notice.

The court case that was mentioned - this was started by a group called Back to 60. Basically they want women's SPA returned to 60. They lost their case in the High Court, and have had their request for an Appeal in the High Court declined. They now say they are going to the Court of Appeal.

In short, we had notice these increases. Indeed, the 26th Anniversary of the 1993 Budget is coming up. The secondary increases were annoying, but correct regarding demographics and intergenerational fairness.

Now Labour wants to throw £58bn at a narrow group of women to appease a few thousand noisy campaigners.

Even though I'd benefit from this, I think it's an outrageous idea to throw such a large amount of money at a small group, many of whom are like us, relatively comfortably off and enjoying cruises and other nice things. If £58 bn must be borrowed, there are lots more deserving causes than my cruise fund

Needless to say, Labour will not be getting my vote.

Sorry to go on, but this is a subject I feel strongly about, and have been following it for a long time.

[david63]

There was also a situation back in the 1960s(?) when married women were able, if not encouraged, to "opt out" of paying NI and only paid a very small amount not realising that in later life there would be no benefits for them. Also if I remember correctly they were not able to "back pay" these contributions in later years but there was no compensation available for this group.

[towny44]

There was also a situation back in the 1960s(?) when married women were able, if not encouraged, to "opt out" of paying NI and only paid a very small amount not realising that in later life there would be no benefits for them. Also if I remember correctly they were not able to "back pay" these contributions in later years but there was no compensation available for this group.

Certainly some were able to back pay for lost years as I said earlier, this is how my wife secured a minimum pension when she reached 60.

[Gill W]

There was also a situation back in the 1960s(?) when married women were able, if not encouraged, to "opt out" of paying NI and only paid a very small amount not realising that in later life there would be no benefits for them. Also if I remember correctly they were not able to "back pay" these contributions in later years but there was no compensation available for this group.

The married womens stamp or 'small stamp' was abolished in around 1977. It was always optional, but most seemed to want to pay it, as their outlay was lower, and they thought they could rely on their husband's pension.

After 1977, no one else could opt for the 'small stamp' on marriage, but the women already paying it could carry on.

In the mid 90's there was a lot of publicity about this, and I remember older women in my office switching to the standard rate, and making back payments of NI, to boost their state pension.

[anniec]

I was born in 1953, so one of those worst affected, but agree with Gill.

What about women born on or after 1 January 1960? They don't seem bothered about them.

[Onelife]

Just for the record.......l'm a Bumblebee

[Manoverboard]

An excellent and comprehensive posting ( #10) ' Gill W .... says it all

As an aside and simply to reinforce the wisdom of keeping ones finger on the pulse …

The DWP advised Mobietta that because she had opted out of Serps and because of this that and the other she would be getting about 9 pence a week for her pension from the age of 60. This was absolute garbage because she had in fact worked for quite a number of years but not enough it transpired to kick in the new calculation.

Thanks to a write up in the Daily Mail I spent nearly a year to-ing and fro-ing with DWP Cardiff and Swansea trying to sensibly resolve the matter. Eventually I found somebody with a brain and command of the rules in place to discover that she could claim extra years cos she worked from the age of 15 to 18 and was also unable to work cos of having to look after the children until the youngest was 19. These years were all credited and her pension was therefore considerably increased and backdated. She also received £800 in compo for their incompetence.

Had we left it to the State she would have got zilch until my pension kicked in 4 years later.

My own State Pension had also been increased by buying missing years as per ' Towny ' and again this was achieved without any notification from the State.

.

[Stephen]

Just for the record.......l'm a Bumblebee

Four years before I get my Bee wings

[Whynd1]

A lot of these women thought they had planned for their retirement until the goalposts were moved.
Many have been badly affected. Some may not have been able to save enough to make up the shortfall.

This is my last word on this topic,I know now why I do not generally comment on current affairs topics on this forum.

[towny44]

A lot of these women thought they had planned for their retirement until the goalposts were moved.
Many have been badly affected. Some may not have been able to save enough to make up the shortfall.

This is my last word on this topic,I know now why I do not generally comment on current affairs topics on this forum.

Lindsey, please feel free to comment you are fully entitled to any opinion you believe in, but equally you should respect that others may not agree.
I recognise that most women are waiting longer for their pensions and paying in more, but unfortunately as we live longer these changes need to be made to ensure that the entire pension system remains viable.

[Onelife]

Just for the record.......l'm a Bumblebee

Four years before I get my Bee wings

That's because your Queen hasn't worked you as hard as my Queen

[oldbluefox]

A lot of these women thought they had planned for their retirement until the goalposts were moved.
Many have been badly affected. Some may not have been able to save enough to make up the shortfall.

This is my last word on this topic,I know now why I do not generally comment on current affairs topics on this forum.

Towny is right. Everybody is entitled to express an opinion, but not everybody will necessarily agree with you. However it would be a pity if topics of current affairs were not discussed. Not everyone has agreed with you but neither has everyone agreed but opinions have been aired. I hope you will re-consider Lindsey.

[Onelife]

A lot of these women thought they had planned for their retirement until the goalposts were moved.
Many have been badly affected. Some may not have been able to save enough to make up the shortfall.

This is my last word on this topic,I know now why I do not generally comment on current affairs topics on this forum.

Towny is right. Everybody is entitled to express an opinion, but not everybody will necessarily agree with you. However it would be a pity if topics of current affairs were not discussed. Not everyone has agreed with you but neither has everyone agreed but opinions have been aired. I hope you will re-consider Lindsey.

Don't worry Foxy l'm sending Lindsey a box of Keefy finest, hopefully that'll do the trick

[Meg 50]

I think we have to accept that when OAP was introduced, it was done so on the basis that the Government of the day didn't expect many to live to an age where they would be receiving it.....roll on a hundred years many of us are here to enjoy our retirement.......something the government back then didn't envisage and governments thereafter  didn't plan for.

I think it was brought in at 65 when the average age of death was 70 - to make the last few years of life more comfortable. Women at 60 so they would retire at a similar age to hubby (since hubbies tended to be older and couldn't possible be expected to fend for themselves while wife was working).

So these days we should be working a good 10 more years before the pension kicks in.
But there's not enough jobs around for that to be feasible

[Gill W]

I was born in 1953, so one of those worst affected, but agree with Gill.

What about women born on or after 1 January 1960? They don't seem bothered about them.

That’s a point i’ve raised several times on other forums and social media, and have never had a satisfactory answer.

The original Waspi campaigners have done a very good job in convincing people only women born up to 31/12/59 have been affected, and a magic wand was waved on 1/1/60 and all the arguments about not being informed or no time to plan no longer apply.

It should be noted that the Labour ‘Waspi Windfall’ applies to women born from 6/4/50 to 5/4/60, but tapers off to minuscule amounts for the later dates of birth.

After date of birth 6/4/60, the state pension age begins to rise again to 67, in monthly increments. So, for someone born 6/4/61, just 15 months after the Waspis, they have a much higher SPA, and no one seems bothered.

[barney]

I was born in 1956 and expected my state pension at 65.
If waspi are successful, I shall be lobbying for my full pension at 65 instead of 66 as that was the contract when I started working in 1972.
Best of luck to them if they set a precedent.