Petition call for rethink on pensions
CAMPAIGNERS opposing moves to make thousands of women wait longer for their state pension presented a petition to the MP helping to make the changes.
A group of women from South Gloucestershire gave the national 10,000-name petition to Thornbury and Yate MP Steve Webb, the pensions minister, at his office in Yate yesterday – and urged him to take a stand over the issue.
They want him to put pressure on the Coalition Government to back down on plans that they say will see 500,000 women born in 1953 and 1954 having to wait longer for their pension when they retire in their 60s. The women said the worst hit would lose up to £15,000 of pension income.
The changes are all part of moves to eventually increase the state pension age for men and women to 66 after an initial increase in the women's pension age from 60 to 65 to align them with men.
But opponents said it was being done more quickly than originally planned and did not give people already in their 50s enough notice to change their retirement plans.
Opponents said of the 500,000 women affected, 33,000 will have to wait for two years more than previously expected before getting their state pension, while no man will have to wait more than a year.
Ruth Jahans-Price, of Tormarton, said women would be hit harder than men and those who were most reliant on the state pension would be hit hardest of all.
She said: "It won't affect me because I've already retired as a hospital matron but it will affect those born in those two years."
Lesley Durston, of Coalpit Heath, is a registrar of births, deaths and marriages and is one of those who will be caught by the change.
She said: "I'm all for equality but when women like me joined the workforce, we didn't have equality.
"We had to leave our jobs when we had children, didn't get career breaks or help with childcare and when we went back to work, it was usually part-time."
Mr Webb said: "State pension ages are rising across the developing world, including in the UK. But this must be done in a fair way, and I am continuing to work to this end. We also need to make sure that the pension that women get when they do retire is worth having, and the proposals I published earlier this year would make a huge difference to many in this generation."
5 Comments
by gaynor119
Sunday, June 05 2011, 12:25PM
“Speaking as someone who has already had her pension date delayed, I really can't see what the complaint is. Surely, by working longer, people have MORE time, not less, to a) plan their retirement and b) save for it. I have worked since my mid-twenties, after University, apart from four years when my children were small. I have paid in more than the required 30 years' worth of contributions for a full state pension and contributions to a private scheme as well. For all of this, I will get about £9000 a year when I retire. But I don't think I have the right to expect a cushy retirement on the backs of my children. Whatever system is in place, someone has to pay and I would rather keep on working than make life harder for my children, who have enough to pay for already”
by BarryW
Saturday, June 04 2011, 4:41PM
“@bristolbabe1
"can anyone tell me if there is any plan to reopen the workhouses for older people? "
Never shut, just called 'old peoples' homes' now.”
by bristolbabe1
Saturday, June 04 2011, 4:02PM
“I have no problem with equal pension ages. This proposal affects me though in that I have been given no opportunity to plan for a later pension age - and I like many others of this age group will not be able to make up for the additional years until we retire. I have done everything various governments have asked me to do - I went to university while raising my son alone, so started my career in my late 20s - in other words I 'got on my bike'. I worked for 20 years without a break until my mother fell ill and died and I had to make some changes. From then on, I worked on one short contract to another for 6 years until I finally got an permanent job after 6 months without work - so I 'got on the bus'. I now find that I've lost out on pension because of only having short term contracts and my pension age keeps moving into the distance. When I started work my pension was calculated on retiring at 60, then it changed to 65 and now is 66. And who's to say that won't keep changing now a precedent has been set? I will lose out and have no opportunity or time to catch up. What with this, changes to the NHS and social care in relapse - can anyone tell me if there is any plan to reopen the workhouses for older people?”
by huntye
Saturday, June 04 2011, 9:59AM
“why not start a petition stopping mps getting massive gold plated pensions ?”
by BarryW
Saturday, June 04 2011, 8:41AM
“Quite right too. Women live longer than men.
In fairness they should get the Old Age Pension at a later age than men, not at an earlier age.
Credit to the women for accepting this”