To think the back to 60 campaign is grabby

[Neaoll]

It's been known about for a long time that state pension ages would be equalised.

State pension is just unsustainable, it was never supposed to be something people claim for 20-30 years. Was for people that had a hard time so they didn't starve to death in their last few years. Now it's a top-up to the richest part of society. It should have been linked with life expectancy a long time ago.

I'm in my 40s and dont expect to ever get a state pension. I've been contributing to my private pension ever since I worked to support myself.

These woman worked long before the Equal Pay Act. They could not have their own loan or mortgage. They have no right to an occupational pension.

I'm in my 40s. It's totally different for me. All of these things were legally available to me as soon as I turned 18.

@joyceTempleSavage Why the need to be sarcy? A post said that women were paid less than men. Some are, some aren't. I wasn't. No need to be nasty when someone merely points out that the pay gap is not universal.

I am 59 and 60 next year so have been affected by this. I retired at 58 but don't get my state pension until I am 66. We knew about this in the early 90s. I had an occupational pension from the age of 18 when I left college and I overpaid into it as did my husband. I took out a SIPP and stocks and shares ISA to complement this. My husbands pension is larger because he worked full time throughout his career while I took a break and went back part time at a lower grade to raise children. I still overpaid into my pension though as we agreed neither of us wanted to work until 66 and the state pension is only around £165 a week if you have a full NI history. I have the required number of years contributions but because my pensions were opted out of SERPS that has reduced my state pension as has retiring 8 years before my state pension age. I am making it up though by claiming my DDs NI credits for looking after my grandchildren 1 day a week so by the time I get to 66 I should have the maximum number of years contributions. That is also not publicised widely for anyone who is short on their state pension but is worth doing.

I think the problem with the campaign is they keep saying the goal posts were changed without them being told but they were. Fair enough I worked in finance so maybe I was more aware than most women but legally they don't have a leg to stand on. Also in these days of equality it is patently unfair for men and women not to be treated the same. Some say women are paid less than men overall but that is very sketchy and I know loads of couples where the woman is the higher earner. A lot of women are paid less as I was myself if they combine childcare with their job but that is every couples choice. Again I know some couples where the dad is the primary childcare giver. Things are not black and white. The problem comes with physical jobs where people in their 60s and 70s are expected to be as fit as someone in their 30s. I know lots of my peers though who did not give their private pension priority and are now regretting that.

These woman worked long before the Equal Pay Act. They could not have their own loan or mortgage. They have no right to an occupational pension.

Good grief- how old do you think we/ they are?

I have friends older than me ( well into their 70s) who had their own mortgages 35 years ago. They also have their own pensions as do I.

The state pension is also a benefit- based on contributions like some other benefits but it is a benefit. The government can and does change the rules (as it did for student grants etc). The “waspi” women had decades to prepare for the change. Most millennials are not banking on getting a state pension at all as they know its uncertain.

Also while some things were harder in the past, some things were easier too. It’s a bit rich for the boomers to be complaining about generational unfairness or younger people “standing on their shoulders” when in fact they want the young to use their already stretched funds to pay for them to have a pension.

"Setting the generations against each other detracts from addressing real inequality in our society."

Exactly this. TBH, this is the second thread I've been on in the last few days where so many women have been willing to throw other women under the bus. Pitting themselves against other women.

It shouldn't be a race to the bottom; it shouldn't be an 'I'm alright Jack so suck it up the rest of you and BE LIKE ME' situation; we get absolutely nowhere in society by treating each other in this shabby and shitty way.

The government could and should have done better by the WASPI women. Society is built on a reliance on women to provide tens of hours of unpaid labour every week. There is still a gender pay gap. Women are still not employed or promoted because they are mothers. And we're bickering amongst each other and judging everyone against our own experience. Brilliant. That's sure to fix it.

JinglingHellsBells

No need to patronise.
I’m actually a qualified accountant and did that for nearly 40 years until being made redundant.
Despite what you seen to think, in my area, cushy office jobs are hard to come by when you’re in your 60’s.

People in manual roles will just have to have a second career

Indeed, like many men had to in the 1980s when the Tories smashed up our traditional industries.

No-one has a job for life these days and people do more frequently change jobs and careers.

What we really ought to be getting worked up about are the young people today, many of whom do not have an occupational pension and for whom the state pension may not exist when they are 70. Or, if they do have an occupational pension, they are having to pay into it on top of paying back their student loans and trying to buy a house (when they need on average 5 x their salary- 10 x in London- to do so compared with us when it was 2.5 x your income.)

It's really quite pathetic that women are going on like this at having to work a few more years when they are the generation who had free higher ed, low house prices and the ability to buy a home in their 20s (compared to generation rent today.)

They need to get some perspective.

Poor little millenials. I blame their parents...

It shouldn't be a race to the bottom; it shouldn't be an 'I'm alright Jack so suck it up the rest of you and BE LIKE ME' situation; we get absolutely nowhere in society by treating each other in this shabby and shitty way

Unfortunately that's how many baby boomers do seem to see things and are happy to repeatedly throw younger people under the bus by voting Conservative and for leaving the EU.

@Pointyfinger- so why not go freelance and set up your own accountancy business?

Many millennials/Gen Y ARE the parents. The "young people" you are referring to now are Gen Z.

this is the second thread I've been on in the last few days where so many women have been willing to throw other women under the bus

But who is being thrown under the bus here? The 1950s women are not campaigning for women in general, but for their own special treatment.

But on the other side @shearwater there's plenty of younger women on this thread slagging off women for not having the wherewithal for retraining in order to build up a huge pension, as if that's a very simple undertaking. No recognition that not everyone has an education to start with, or is academic, or has any spare money or time left over at all after feeding their children to put into getting a bloody part time degree.

I just see very little empathy on here any more, and it's fucking sad.

A post said that women were paid less than men. Some are, some aren't

Women refers to women in general though as we both know. It doesn’t say all women

I’m glad you’ve had equal pay but you are one person. The gender pay gap as measured by ONS is 16% for women 50-59. Far more representative of the reality for women (not all)

@mymonkeysmycircus

"I was hmm when my FIL who retired at 58 with 6 figure savings and a fat private pension was complaining about waiting to receive his pension at 65. Not saying it's wrong necessarily, but he's always been rather scathing of people claiming support from the government"
Pension is not support from the government though. He has made his NI contributions all his working life in order to receive it when he reaches a given age, in his case 65.

My mother has been affected by the pension changes hugely. She was born in 1954. Every so often they have announced that the pension age is moving by a year and she is always the one affected the most. She is 65 and still works 13-hour shifts on an NHS ward. It’s not just about money, it’s about being exhausted too. A PP mentioned that this has been announced since the 1990s and so she got herself an ISA and various investments, etc. So nice for her that she could afford that. My mother was a nurse raising 5 children on her own. ISAs? We barely had enough to cover our day-to-day lives as it was.

Agree with pp that it’s a bit weird to be claiming women of this age (born in the 50s) had no access to private pensions or mortgages. My dm is older than that and had both. It’s been about 45 years since the equal pay act too for these waspi women who are still working. Also we’ve seen a large increase in the state pension to above what previous generations got.

There are many issues of inequality but I think waspi women are being pretty entitled.

As one of the women affected, I think I can answer some of the concerns.
First, I should add that I have not joined in any campaigns, because the number affected are not large enough to affect votes, and assuming half (or some, anyway) vote for the ‘other’ side, so I decided it would not make any difference anyway.
The first change in 1995, changed my state pension age from 60 to 63 and a half. The second change in 2011 changed my state pension age from 63 and a half to 64 and a half. So, you can see, I am better than some, in that state pension age was still lower than 65.
I did receive notification of this, and I still have the letters. The point to note that this was less than 5 years notice, that my state pension age was being put back by a another year. (notification letter dated 2012, pension moved from 2017 to 2018)
In my case, I was better than some women in my position. My SIL, 6 months younger than me, her state pension age was raised to 66, and she would wait 2 years after me.
So, the point was not that it was being changed, but the way it was brought in. I have worked most of my life, but when I started work, it was still normal for most women to be SAHP, and the law allowing women to return to work after maternity leave was just coming in.
Note also, that this change contrasts with MPs, who protected themselves if they were within 10 years of retirement.

Scrap state pensions, institute a UBI, job done.

I detest the word grabby. It implies that as women we should just put up and shut up.
I've worked full time in the NHS since I was 18. I'mean 57 now and still have 10 years to go and I'm knackered as well as partially disabled.
I do fortunately have an NHS pension. However like most women my age I did all the childcare and housework, paperwork, gardening and generally everything and feel I bloody well deserve to retire at 60 but that isn't going to happen.
It's always women who get the shitty end of the stick.

It's really quite pathetic that women are going on like this at having to work a few more years when they are the generation who had free higher ed, low house prices and the ability to buy a home in their 20s (compared to generation rent today.)

They may have had low house prices but interest rates were sky high compared with now.

@BritWifeinUSA as a nurse of that age your mum would have had access to a pretty great workplace pension which today’s nursing graduates can only dream of. So, why should she get her state pension at an earlier age than them?

How much money has the government wasted on stupid projects like the cruise ships or even on Brexit? It must be in the millions.

There are people like my mam who are disabled following years and years of bloody backbreaking work. Yes she gets pip but it's only just enough to live on.

It's disgusting and just shows how the government thinks about poor people.