State pension moans

[Gemini]

I know there are several ladies here around my age. We are the group suddenly deprived of our state pensions and bus passes for several more years, whereas our friends a couple of years older got all that at 60.
We are all very cross, to put it politely. It should have been done gradually, not a sudden jump like that.

For OH and I to go into town together by bus is almost £9 return. Hence we rarely do so!
Oh gets her state pension next January , I get mine in March. We will be almost 66.

I knew I wouldn't get the full pension as rules changed a while ago and you now need a certain number of credit years which I don't have. You get credits for all your Child Benefit years as well as working years, but can't get double credits for the years you worked and claimed child benefit. So many of my working years are not counted. I knew this, I don't like it but we knew.

We have both checked now much pension we will get, and OH won't get full pension either. Despite working her whole adult life, not even any breaks for child rearing. This we now realise is because she chose to retire at 60. At that point we really didn't expect her to be here by pension age, so to waste those last years working was pointless. She had a small works pension and some money from the sale of her parents house, so we knew we could manage. To now discover that she won't get a full pension is galling.
They moved the goalpost at the last minute. She retired at the age she expected to all along.
We don't regret for one minute the decision, it was the right one. What we do regret is OH not continuing to pay her national insurance contributions for the last five years. At no point was she contacted or advised about that possibility. We only have this information now because we have looked it up . The amount to pay now to make it up to full pension is a lot and not worth it for the increase each week.

At least by next spring we will have pensions, so some more money coming in, so for that we are grateful. Not happy bunnies however .

[Plantaholic]

I am sure I would feel annoyed too Gemini, not fair that they moved the goalpost.

[Nanto2girls]

I was lucky, i only lost out by 13 months.
My pension started 1 month after my 61st birthday.
Hubby got his at 65,like he would have done if things hadn't changed.
I know some family members are quite annoyed because their pensions won't start till they are in their late 60's.

[Nana]

Not fair is it Gem. Moving the goalposts is a rotten thing to do.

[Daisy]

Gem - I know there are a whole generation of people your age who have lost out, but I do think your OH should have been advised about the consequences of her retiring at 60 (although I agree it was the right decision at the time, and for the reasons she had, which were medical grounds). If she wasn't informed that she should continue to pay her NI contributions to get her full pension then I think she has cause for complaint.

I always think it's worth 'having a go' in these situations, and The Pensions Ombudsman service is free and impartial. I would definitely contact them and see what they say.


A lot of married women over the years lost out on pensions because they opted to pay the married women's stamp on the grounds that they were 'covered' by their husband's contributions. Also a lot of works pension schemes excluded married women. I know of women who worked in banks and once they married they became 'non-people' excluded from the bank pensions schemes.

For many years I taught part-time. As a part-timer we were treated as casual labour, paid by the hour - no holiday or sick pay, no access to the Teacher's Pension scheme. By the time the law changed to include us, I was working full-time and there was a group action case to try to claim the credits for the 'lost' pension years. I know quite a few colleagues who were successful under this action, but I wasn't because it was time-driven and my part-time working was too long ago. But at least I got my State Pension and for that I'm very grateful, and of course my teacher's pension for the years of full-time work. I did lose out by stopping teaching at 56, but I needed to do something different and knew I would take a financial hit.

[WeeGranny]

Daisy, I think if you do anything other than the norm, you've got to find out for yourself.....officialdom won't tell you unless asked. When OH worked abroad, he kept up his NI payments in this country and when he took early retirement, like S on health grounds, he continued to pay them. I think someone must have advised him but it wasn't any Government Dep't. It used to be the same with claiming benefits, unless you knew how the system worked, you'd find yourself missing out on things you were entitled to. All wrong in my opinion.

[Glammanana]

I count myself very fortunate as I only "lost" 6mths pension I was 60 in the September and had to wait until the following March for my pension to start along with 2 x private pensions which I pay tax on which I totally disapprove of as I have already paid tax on that money when I was working so they have you both ways.The whole system is unfair to me when you have worked for most of your life.
With regard to the powers that be informing you of information they just don't bother you are expected to know.

[Daisy]

WeeGranny and Glamm, I think you're probably right - it's a case of finding out for yourself, but it's always worth a phone call or email, just in case. It's so unfair and I really feel for the women (and men) who have had their pension ages pushed higher and higher, and women have been so badly treated by the 'system' in so many ways.

[Gemini]

What I can't understand is that although OH has 40 plus years of credits she loses out just because she doesn't have the last 4. I feel like taking this further.

[Daisy]

Gem - I agree. I'd definitely take it further. It's so unreasonable.

Edit: I've just asked my OH about this. His suggestion is that S gets all the paperwork from the DW&P and if she definitely isn't getting a full pension then to go to the Citizens' Advice Bureau. (He's not up to speed with current legislation, but thinks it's definitely worth checking.)