Crosswords4 mins ago
Womens Pensions
18 Answers
I wondered what other people think to Corbyns promise to pay outstanding pensions for women who did not get theirs at 60, it seems a good deal to me but also a bribe to get more people to vote for him , and is it going to cost taxpayers more in the long run.
Answers
C at C the argument is that women like myself (and their spouses) made financial decisions during their working lives based on one set of committments made by the government. The government massively moved the goalposts very close to our retirement dates...even after they had announced the "in principle" new rules, they were still not clear on what would be done about the "gap aged" women. Right up until I received my pension the Pensions Office didn't know how our pensions would be calculated or what I would get. The helpline folk were lovely but I kept getting told "here's what we know this week but we think it will change next week" I was told categorically that I would be allowed pensionable years against my late husband's contributions because he died before he claimed, then I was told I would not, then I was told "we just don't know" I am lucky, my late husband had a private pension and I inherited a proportion of that but for some women it has been nightmarish.
But it's exactly the same for men - leaving aside that we've always had to work longer and usually die younger too - my retirement age has been moved on by several years just as some women's have too. I wont be getting a pension at 65 but will have to wait for several years afterwards. But, because we're men, it's not a contentious issue...