"Generation of women betrayed over state pension"

[dutchman]

Susan may die before she claims hers while Wendy faces poverty waiting

Susan Sutherland always thought she would be able to take her state pension when she turned 60.

Over four decades she has worked as a childminder, civil servant and nurse.

But, despite turning 60 in January this year and having paid more than enough National Insurance contributions, she now fears she’ll die before she’ll see a penny of her state pension.

In May, Susan was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, an incurable muscle-wasting condition.

Although she is taking medication to delay its onset, she is already having difficulty walking. She would dearly love to use her pension to be able to enjoy to the full what time she has left with her husband Robert.

But like millions of other women in their late 50s and 60s, she has been forced to wait years longer than expected before she can claim it.

Susan, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, won’t get her state pension now until she is 66, in 2021.

Only half of motor neurone sufferers survive three years after the onset of symptoms.

She says: ‘I may not be around to claim the pension I have earned and paid for. I felt sick to my stomach when I found out about the delay and so angry. I think it’s an absolute disgrace that I am having to wait so long. I feel as though women of my generation have been treated very shabbily.’

Millions of older women have been trapped by sweeping changes to the state pension system.

They’ve been caught out by an increase in the age at which they can claim and a radical overhaul of the way payouts are calculated.

It has left many reduced to penury because they are out of work and cannot find an employer willing to take on an older worker, are ill, or are taking care of sick partners — and now they have to wait years longer for the state pension they were promised.

Many also won’t even be able to claim a state pension based on their husband’s records — despite being assured they would be able to when they gave up years of their life to support his career and raise a family.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pens ... z3lNkm6Ys0

[rebbonk]

It's not just women that have been robbed, though they have (generally) suffered the worst. - But they did demand equality with men...

As far as I'm concerned, I started work at 16 and had an agreement with the government. I would pay NI and they would provide me with health care, unemployment benefits and a pension at 65. Governments of all colours have reneged on the deal whilst still taking my 'premium'!

[dutchman]

It's not just women that have been robbed, though they have (generally) suffered the worst.

Everyone on a low income was affected because Gordon Brown's government used the increase in women's pension age to phase out the minimum income guarantee for everyone turning sixty, regardless of whether they were male or female.