I’m sure there are many very valid reasons why this change is problematic for the unfortunate people involved, but to my eyes it does look a bit… odd that they’re complaining they’ve been unfairly treated for (checks notes) being given the same as Men born in the 50’s.
But hey, I’m just a 36 year old with no realistic expectations of ever being able to claim a state pension, let alone retire. What do I know.
They have stated that they agree the pension age should rise and be in line with men. The complaint is it was done too suddenly without sufficient notice and therefore didn’t give women enough time to effectively plan for it.
Imagine being 59 looking forward to retirement, maybe you’ve already dropped your hours and have enough savings to make it to 60 and then expecting your pension to kick in when suddenly the rug is pulled out from under you and you need to work 6 more years. I can sympathise with them, even though I’ll probably never get a pension.
Why would you post an article you have not read?
For years, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has been investigating how the retirement age rise was communicated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to women most likely to be impacted by the change.
In 2021, its initial finding of maladministration by the DWP centred on a delay in providing direct information to this group of women.
While some women were aware of the general policy change, they did not know it would affect them personally. The ombudsman said that letters should have been sent directly to these women more than two years earlier than they were. For some, the delay was much longer.
And, just in case you’re feeling all hard done by, pension rights were only equalised in 2005 (because civil partnerships meant the inequality affected men as well as women). It was not retrospectively applied and my mother has retired by then. So her pension scheme will pay the widows of the men in her pension scheme but her widower will get nothing. And the same applies to most of the pension contributions made by women before 2005; top-sliced to subsidise the men in the same pension schemes. Quit your whining.
Why would you post an article you have not read?
Mainly because of a lack of time but a deep interest in drumming up a little activity in the community if I’m honest.
My opinion may well be wrong and Ill thought-out, but I’ll stand by posting articles from the beeb if I think they’ve got some relevance to the overall community, which I think this one does.
Thanks for the cordial conversation friend. I’ll quit my whining now.
The article from the Beeb is fine. It’s just that it answers the question you asked.
Thanks for the content tho.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The original plan was to phase those changes in between 2010 and 2020, but the coalition government accelerated the shift in 2011 in a bid to reduce the cost of the state pension system to the taxpayer.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report comes after years of campaigning and legal challenges over how the retirement age for women was brought into line with men.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigation was set up to look at how the retirement age rise was communicated by the Department of Work and Pensions to women most likely to be impacted by the change.
On Thursday, the body is expected to publish the second and third parts of its investigation, which deal with whether those communication failings amounted to “injustice” and possible recommendations on compensation.
According to Ms Madden, the government saved £181bn by equalising the state pension age between men and women - a principle she did not disagree with.
If you are reading this page and can’t see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at [email protected].
The original article contains 895 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
(checks notes)
You apparently, didn’t even make notes, let alone check them
