Pension grumble

But no, I'm not holding my breath either!

Hello, not exactly new to gransnet, have posted only once when it was first created but read threads almost every day.
I'm a January 54 woman and have joined the WASPI campaign on Twitter and Facebook. There are 149 MPs so far on our side and legal people are looking into our case, so there is hope!
Maggiemaybe gave the link further up the thread, please take a look. Some women have nothing to live on and are suffering very badly. All support gratefully received.

It does not look as though the new government changes will effect those who currently receive a state pension and pension credit.
The damaging will done for those say under 60 at the moment.
I did look at the Gov. Pension Calculator even for the blokes the retirement age will be 66 or higher as time goes on, and both sexes will be equal as well, this also applies to the bus pass and other perks should changes not be made in between.
But I feel like tillymint states depending on a women's work experience , and those that have worked in the public sector maybe gain a better pension such as a teacher, and for someone else who as only done cleaning work to bring up a family , or even some single women fall into the same trap.
With the age related tax allowance being abolished as not helped all though they claim increasing the tax threshold releases many from paying tax.
It will be interesting to hear next months budget to see how the welfare cuts will or will not help those who are retired, or in the 50`s age groups.
Mick

I agree that the government allowed people to believe that, come what may, everyone in the new scheme would get approx. £150 which is the amount the current pensioners receive + the amount of guaranteed pension credit joolz1954.

When it come to contracted out, first they will check how many years and in which period you were contracted out. The calculation is made using a figure known as the guaranteed minimum pension which is the minimum amount a pension had to guarantee if the money was paid to them instead of the state pension.

Then they will deduct an amount from the new Single Tier Pension. However, if you are about to retire and I believe, while these opted out payments exist and are taken into account, the government has said that this calculation, which gives you your "guaranteed minimum pension" which will be used for the whole of your retirement, will not make you worse off than you would have been under the old system so there is, in fact, a floor of the current state pension.

As you will have paid the opted out amounts into a pension which had the cover of the "guaranteed minimum pension" you will not be worse off. You will not be better off either which you would have been had you received the new pension and the additional amounts from the pension the opted out amount is paid into.

Anyone not yet retired would be well advised to get a pension forecast and ask if it would be higher if they bought any extra years as this is usually a very good thing to do and for a relatively small amount can buy you a bigger pension.

Not all of us who got our pensions at 60 are better off. We needed 39 years of contributions rather than the 30 for some since or 35 depending when you retire. I didn't get full cover for all the time I was at home bringing up children and I also paid Married Women's Contribution as, at the time, we were told we didn't need to pay a full 'stamp' because we would get a pension on our husband's contribution. This was in the days when we were our husband's property for income tax.

michael may I just point out that teachers not only pay NI at the going rates like everyone else but also make fairly hefty contributions into separate superannuation schemes. Effectively they pay for and receive 2 different pensions.
The same applies to other public sector workers.

I agree mcem but to receive a decent pension all teachers and public health sector workers had abysmal salaries for many years.

Unless things have changed public sector workers don't have to wait until whatever is the current retirement age to take their work pension. Under certain circumstances you can take early retirement. I retired at 59 because I calculated I had enough superannuated payments in the kitty, as it were, and because my employers, the LEA, were under pressure to downsize.

I then returned to work for them as a consultant on a freelance basis.

I could have retired at 55 but I could not afford to do so. I also retired when I was 59 after 39 years work and like you Anya returned to work on a consultant basis until I broke my ankle aged 65 and had to give up work then.

joolz54
This is because I was contracted out for most of my working life

Are you sure you have been given the correct information?
If you are contracted out surely you should still receive the full state pension (but not the *additional state pension*) if you have sufficient years?

Or do you mean that you paid the married women's stamp, which entitled people to a smaller pension based on their husband's contributions?

I worked for the AHA for a few years when I was first married - they brought round forms for us to sign, explaining that we only need pay the married women's stamp as we would get 'a full pension based on your husband's contributions' which was, of course, erroneous.

Luckily, after a gap when the children were small, I went back and paid a full stamp but was not 'contracted in' and do not receive an additional state pension.

I may be wrong, but it is worth checking.

joolz is correct, rosequartz. I moaned about mentioned it too, in the post directly below hers. Under the current system, opted out years count towards the basic state pension. Under the new one, they won't.

There will be no additional state pension once the new system clicks in next year. This article explains it all, at great length (apologies!). A lot of people just don't realise that they are going to get much less than the "universal" pension promises.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2634215/Why-millions-WONT-155-new-state-pension-theyre-expecting.html

Thank you Maggiemaybe I must have missed that

I will read the article (there are other explanations but some of them leave my head feeling a bit fuzzy).

It seems that there is a real blip in the system and people are falling between the old and new systems and losing out.

There has always been a strange blip in the system re Guaranteed Minimum Pension (if you have a small private pension).
If you had a small private pension they could apply GMP. The private pension forecast for years can be reduced just before you start receiving it because of Guaranteed Minimum Pension. Apparently you are supposed to get extra with your State Pension and the firm can pay a lower pension than promised originally.

It is all a minefield.

Agree charleygirl and anya and that's why I made the point that superannuation contributions were 'hefty' by which I meant a significant proportion of a not very high salary!
I retired early at 58.5 and for 18 months (until dwp pension kicked in at 60) lived on my sppa salary, topped up by drawing on my lump sum. That way I was able to care for mum who died days after I turned 60.
I've just realised that I may be eligible to claim an income tax rebate - have paid 20% on small savings income when I perhaps should have been taxed at 10% and will also investigate my position in April 2016.
Something others may want to look at!

WASPI have organised a petition to highlight the issue. The more supporters signing, the better. Come on, you Gransnetters, let's do this!

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110776

I've signed, my pension age rose from 63.5 to 64.5 in 2011.

I retired a couple of years ago and am coming up to 64. Even though I only worked part time [although some days I had to do 12 hours if they were short staffed] I honestly don't think I could have carried on or; if I had done my life would have consisted of nothing but working and sleeping.

I've started a new thread for the petition, in News and Politics. I'm 60 with 41 years of NI payments and won't now get my State Pension (or bus pass!) till I'm 66, so this is a cause dear to my heart.

luckygirl You say "No private pension scheme would be allowed to get away with taking your subs under false pretences." I'm not sure that private pension providers are any more honourable or reliable.

When the senior partner of the small niche firm of solicitors I worked for sold the firm to a very large city firm, we were advised to freeze our pensions from the old firm and join the new firm's pension scheme. Unfortunately, that company happened to be Equitable Life which - because of a guarantee that it offered to some of its customers and on which it tried to renege - was taken to Court by a policyholders group, lost, and, in effect, went bust as a result. This had a disastrous effect on pension holders' final fund amount. Fortunately, I had only been in the scheme about 3 years and although I lost half the value, it wasn't the end of the world. For people like my friend who had her own business, and had been paying into the pension scheme for many years, it was not far off disastrous.