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Post by gigi on Mar 21, 2024 10:02:24 GMT 1
Are any women on here or men who have family members affected by the report on women’s state pensions due out today?
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exile
Member
Massif Central
Posts: 2,686
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Post by exile on Mar 21, 2024 11:15:43 GMT 1
My sisters were impacted to lesser or greater extent. Thankfully none had actually retired before they realised that their state retirement date had changed.
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Post by ForumUser2 on Mar 21, 2024 11:45:28 GMT 1
Yep. My OH had her pension age raised from 60 to 66. She's pretty livid. So she's been drawing her pension now for one year instead of 7.
Mind you, successive governments just can't help themselves, can they? Tinkering around with pension age, lifetime allowances and whatnot. They don't just move the goalposts, they move the whole damn playing field.
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Post by jardiniere on Mar 22, 2024 11:19:24 GMT 1
It looks like they're going to have to fight for compensation. It's all so wrong.
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Post by limousinlady on Mar 22, 2024 13:54:59 GMT 1
An extra 6 years wait and now 6 months to go!
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Post by another on Mar 23, 2024 16:20:22 GMT 1
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Post by omegal on Mar 23, 2024 17:50:53 GMT 1
I'll put my head above the parapet, my wife had to wait some three years to get to age 62 and ten months to get her pension but she knew it was not going to be at age 60, as other women appear to have thought they would. It had been warned for many years before that equalisation between men and women was being brought in for a pension. State Pension age is currently 66 years old for both men and women but will gradually increase again from 6 May 2026. I cannot understand why more people were not aware that many years before Parliament were changing the dates for both me and women. Surely it is only right that men and women should retire at the same age. People are living longer due to the advances in medicines, the finances for health and retirement are becoming unsustainable. So unless people pay more in to healthcare and pensionable age increases, the country will not be able to afford good healthcare and offer a pension at 66 (due to rise again in 2026). Sorry but it is what it is...this should not have come as a shock, it was out there for years of an increase in age related pension.
Ken Clarke"STATE PENSION AGE Finally,I can announce one further decision which will have little immediate effect, but will make a considerable difference to the affordability of the modern welfare state in the next century. After careful consideration, the Government has decided that the state pension age should eventually be equalised at 65. The change will be phased in over ten years, starting in the year 2010, so it will not affect anyone currently aged 44 or older. By the year 2020, the state pension age in Britain will be broadly in line with that of most of our industrial competitors, though we will still have more generous arrangements than in the United States, where the pension age is to be equalised at 67. All developed countries are making similar changes for similar reasons. Women nowadays tend to spend more of their lives in paid employment. They also live longer than men. Pension schemes need to recognise this, and end the current discrimination between the sexes. In the next century the ratio of working people to retired people will fall sharply and the burdens on taxpayers will rise. The Government's decision will moderate those burdens, eventually by some £5 billion a year, and so help to ensure that they are sustainable. The basic pension is, and will remain, a cornerstone of the welfare state. The Government is committed to it and to retaining its value" Have they completely buried their head in the sand, I suppose it is hypothetically possible, a small number may have evaded the media coverage and discussions of this for twenty years. Some say they were nor warned, media were full of it at times. Women live longer and men in general do not live as long as women obviously. So retirement age is now on equal terms as it should be......
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Post by limousinlady on Mar 23, 2024 18:01:28 GMT 1
I understand what you are saying and it is what it is, but for 30 plus years, we expected to retire at 60. A few years notice, didn't give sufficient time to plan for the postponement of retirement age.
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exile
Member
Massif Central
Posts: 2,686
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Post by exile on Mar 23, 2024 21:57:08 GMT 1
What you write omegal is quite true. Everyone knew that the pension age was going to be raised. What they did not know and were not informed in good time was when and how the changes would be applied. And to put that into context, you are going to die. How does that statement help you to make a firm plan for the immediate future? Women ( and it usually is women) took early retirement to act as carers for other family members in the belief that since no plans had been put forward for that increase in pension age, they would get their OAP in just a very few years at age 60. In between they could live off their savings. And then the 1 minute to midnight DWP suddenly changed the goal posts. Now savings would not last until OAP retirement age. For as long as I can remember we have been advised to plan for the future and the finances for our retirement. www.ombudsman.org.uk/publications/womens-state-pension-age-our-findings-department-work-and-pensions-communication/background-relating-changes-state-pension-age-womenJust read through and see how many times the dates for reaching full pension changed over (in pension planning terms) a very short period. And that relates to the WASPI case. From my perspective as a male, during the last 10 years or so, the number of qualifying years need for a full pension changed from 40 years, to 30 years and then 35 years.
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Post by omegal on Mar 24, 2024 1:00:21 GMT 1
Exile, Women were warned some took notice, like my wife and several of our friends wives. Was there just one minute to midnight and DWP suddenly change the goal postsand if so, then how did my wife know in advance? Exile said "And that relates to the WASPI case. From my perspective as a male, during the last 10 years or so, the number of qualifying years need for a full pension changed from 40 years, to 30 years and then 35 years"
Yes it changed for me as well concerning the number of years required for a full pension but as I left the UK with just 25 years or so paid in I was told when asking for a pension forecast that I could purchase further years by paying so much to gain those lost years. After much thought I decided to not bother for the amount I would pay back just to get a few pounds more.
Exile said "For as long as I can remember we have been advised to plan for the future and the finances for our retirement"
I think that is a fair point, I cashed in a private pension that I was saving for retirement and reinvested it here.
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Post by ForumUser2 on Mar 24, 2024 8:13:41 GMT 1
Very roughly, if you buy back missing years of NI contributions you need to draw the pension for 4 years to break even. OH bought back 6 years and me 4 years to meet the minimum number of years (35) for a full pension. The cost was about £850 for each missing year.
It's a total bargain giving a 25% return on investment per year.
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Post by jeliecrack on Mar 24, 2024 12:15:12 GMT 1
A bargin if you have the money to buy the years back,
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Post by tim17 on Mar 24, 2024 12:33:31 GMT 1
It's even more of a bargain if you were self employed in France because you only had to play Class 2 contributions (£3.45 per week currently).
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Post by beejay on Mar 24, 2024 13:57:52 GMT 1
After careful consideration, the Government has decided that the state pension age should eventually be equalised at 65. The change will be phased in over ten years, starting in the year 2010,
My wife is too old not involved so I lack knowledge. Was this phased in? Presumably not in view of the uproar.
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Post by omegal on Mar 24, 2024 17:43:43 GMT 1
I think so as my wife had to wait for her state pension until she was 62 years and 10 months and that was around 8 years ago now.
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