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30/03/2018

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

I am writing to highlight some of the problems being experienced by women like myself, born in the 1950’s and suffering hardship or potential hardship because of non-communicatio, misinformation and the unfair acceleration of changes to our qualifying state pension age.

The DWP did not properly inform us as individuals of the original changes to SPA brought about by the 1995 Act, with many of us being unaware that the date from which we could claim our pension was being extended by up to five years. This was further exacerbated by the 2011 Act which accelerated the process further still resulting in many, like myself, having to wait a further year, so 6 additional years in total. Indeed, when I finally accessed the DWP website to try and check my position, it carried ambiguous misinformation up until last month so that it was still not clear whether or not I qualified for the full pension. I found out more from social media on sites like #BackTo60 and #OneVoice than I was able to from the DWP.

When you look at the bigger picture women have and are continuing to be further disadvantaged because:-

· Historically workplace pensions were not always available to women of our generation

· We were expected to look after our families first - having any career came second if at all, hence many of us stayed home to look after our children and elderly relatives and if we had a job at all it was low paid and part time for at least a part of our lives

· There has always been a gender pay gap - this is as true today as it was forty years ago, which means women have less funds to put towards any workplace pension if they have employment. The gender pay gap exists into retirement with women on average 40 per cent worse off than their male counterparts.

· Although certain statistics point to increased longevity, there are also new statistics indicating that this is, in fact, slowing down. Additionally, the figures don’t take into account that rich pensioners generally live longer than poorer ones

· If women have a male partner/husband who helps financially, they are often several years older, in poor health and need care

· If we don’t have a partner/husband or are widowed and live alone, we still have to find the money to pay household bills, buy food and try to make ends meet

· Equalisation of the state pension age failed to take these important gender differences into account. It is clear that men of similar age to ourselves have an unfair advantage because of the above issues.

* Those women lucky enough to have a workplace pension, often find that this was "contracted out" of the state pension which means that their National Insurance contributions for those years don't count towards the state pension so even when they come to receive it many will find that it has been reduced. This was never properly explained or understood and affects both men and women.

Our generation have funded previous pensioners and expected to be as fairly treated as they were. We went to work earlier than most of the current younger generations, did not have help with childcare costs as they do, did not have the same chances to further education and we have already paid more than the qualifying National Insurance contributions, yet are expected to work longer still, pay in even more and receive less. This is a triple whammy and on top of this, the changes mean we must also wait to qualify for other pensioner benefits such as a bus pass or fuel allowance.

These things have been discussed many times and at length in Parliament, it has been acknowledged that these changes are unfair and leave many 1950’s women in poverty and yet nothing has been done to put things right. Why were we not properly informed individually following the 1995 Act and why were the dates so unfairly accelerated by the 2011 Act. For many of us this has resulted in a six year wait for our state pension and not the maximum of 18 months spun out by the DWP when trying to justify these measures. When will these issues be properly addressed and something done to alleviate financial pressures for this disadvantaged group?

Yours sincerely
Mrs G P Lidgett

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FoI 1673

Please see the attached reply to your Freedom of Information request.
 

Yours sincerely
 
DWP Strategy FoI Team

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