To not have realised that my pension age has gone up?

[IIdentifyAsInnocent]

I'm 45, 46 this year. Checked online 2 years ago and my state pension age was 67, which I thought was bad enough, for some reason checked again today and it's gone up to 68!!

I knew that the govt were thinking of doing this but I have no recollection of being told it had actually happened. This affects my work pension which I now can't take until 68 too as it aligns to state pension age.

Annoyingly, my brother who is 2 years older can still retire at 67!
Have I missed some huge public announcement?

According to the government gateway website, I have only 9 years left until I have paid in enough NI contributions for a full state pension, but it also tells me I can’t claim that state pension until 18 years after that (when I am 68) You would hope that my NI contributions would go down in 9 years time for the remaining 18 years , but the website is clear that they won’t.

For NHS workers for every year less than the state patient age 7% pension is forfitted.

NI payments go towards a range of services though including the NHS. It isn’t just for pensions.

That’s shit.
However I was responding to someone who said you can’t do it now.

Agree… which is why it’s a bit silly it’s only paid by people under state pension age (but that’s a different conversation!)

I’m 55 and mine is definitely 67 - I just did a quick check.

"Annoyingly, my brother who is 2 years older can still retire at 67!"

Don't worry, honey. I am even older, still (for now) on 67, but I have NO doubts that the number will also be raised for us in time. It is already being discussed. To be honest, I would be very thankful if we can guarantee they will stick to 68...

No, it was in the Pensions Act 2007

Cameron did not become PM until 2010.

Good point!

It is starting to look more and more tempting!

As they say, if voting changed anything, it wouldn't be allowed.
The legislation is self-defeating, in the sense that in the days when men received their state pension at 65 and women at 60, those ages were accepted as 'retirement ages'. Now, successive governments have moved the goalposts and no political party has suggested that those who started paying NI at 16, shouldn't receive a pension within 50 years.
As a result, the retirement age has become whatever you can get by with, and those with inheritances or sufficient savings will retire one or two decades earlier.
The government then has the nerve to call these people 'economically inactive' and suggests they should go back to work.

@IIdentifyAsInnocent at least you have plenty of warning!! Mine was meant to be 60 then all of a sudden it was 66 and I was one of the many who were not informed that this was happening! I found out when I was 58 and at a function! one lady was talking about it!! I am one of the waspi women!

We haven’t ever been formally told, either. It’s been in the news etc. As were the changes in 1995, when you will have been a not dissimilar age.

Yeah, sorry, I was talking specifically about people born April 1978-March 1979 (or whenever the next increment up is) which is the age bracket OP is in.

Strange the way it’s been worked out … I’m 58 and the gov website tells me I’ll get
my pension in 2033 when I’m 67.
not that I’ve got much of a pension to look forward to. I’ll be working for as long as I’m able I suppose.

We are going to have to work until we drop.

I'm mid 20s I don't think they'll be a retirement age for me and my peers

I’m saving for my pension so I CAN retire earlier. You know your private pension doesn’t get held hostage till you reach gov pension age right?

Why not? The original state pension was brought in when people were expected to live no more than 5 years after retirement.
Retirement at 70 will still give you about 15 years of active life funded by current taxpayers.

Agree with PPs - it's hard to imagine that the state pension will continue to be a thing in the longer term. The government want us to have personal or work pensions, and the state one will be phased out, I'm sure. Not saying that's right or wrong, just likely to be the way forward.

But I didn't know that work pensions were aligning their dates to the state one? That is news to me! And probably of serious concern to a lot of people!

I've just turned 60 and am now in receipt of the pension from the (large, private sector) company I worked for for 25 years before moving to a part time job to accommodate young children. I know I won't get my state pension until 67 but would have been horrified to learn my workplace pension was aligned to that - and fortunately, it wasn't.

I still work part time at a school and have a very small amount of LA pension due through that - presumably I won't get that until 67? Hadn't really looked at the paperwork - and it won't be enough to matter much - but I honestly had no idea!

I think pension planning needs to be on the school curriculum going forwards, it's such a key thing!!!!!

It's all very demoralising. I'm 60. When I started working, I expected to have been able to retire by now. I want to have some life while I am still physically able. I have arthritis and other health conditions and I have had enough of working for a living. I've either been in full-time education or worked since I was 18. 67 is ridiculous, 68 even more. My mother died not long after retirement, at 62.

As her next of kin, we got the balance of her pension up to 5 years, after she contributed for 25+ years! HTF is that fair!!

Also agree with this. It's not just the WASPI women, none of us were ever sent letters when things changed in the 90s, and haven't been when things have moved on again since. But it was big news headlines and I'm amazed anyone managed to miss it.....

Also - None of us ever had a letter back in the day saying we would get a pension aged 60 - so it does seem a bit disingenuous to expect one to say that had changed? We were happy to accept that we 'knew' stuff - until we weren't?

I'm not saying it wasn't a horrible shock to anyone who genuinely had somehow missed the news - but where did people get the idea they had a pension at 60 from? Not a letter......

It's so wrong that they are screwing people over like this.
The women who received pensions at 60, free bus passes at 60, also had free university and cheap {in real terms} housing.

Retirement at 70 will still give you about 15 years of active life funded by current taxpayers

After spending your whole working life funding the active lives of pensioners in the past.

A zimmer frame at 68? Good grief, most late 60s people I know are climbing mountains and ocean swimming.

Only a minority went to university.