state pension

Good lord jusnoneed, I hope you drive & don't have to rely on those buses!
Despite what the government say, I don't recall being informed about SP age rises in the 90s either! By 2011 I'd left my teaching career to go self employed, knowing that I'd done my 30 years to qualify for my SP which I was still expecting at 60. Result is that even when I reach 66 I will not get full pension as they've also increased the number of qualifying years you have to pay NI. Talk about ripping us off!

When I was working you needed 40 years of NI contributions to get a full SP. I had something like 37 when I retired and so did not get the full SP. They then gave everyone who had stayed home to look after children some bonus time so I had almost the 40. As I had paid Graduated pensions and Earnings related pension I do get a bit more added to the payment - but that part of the pension never goes up and neither do any SERPS payments - bit of a con there too.

They also managed to sneak through another change that will affect many of us, and not in a good way (of course!) - "opted out" years don't count towards the "universal" pension. People think they will at least have the benefit of a higher pension when we eventually get there, but it's not going to be the case for most of us.