WASPI

Plus I am on the old pension which is much lower than the new rate but I am not complaining as I have had the benefit of a state pension for longer! I just think women need to be more in the know about finances etc

But those on the new state pension don’t necessarily get more than those on the old one, Susieq62. There have been several GN threads about this, so I won’t derail this thread by going into further detail.

kjmpde

V3Ra- I was born December 1957 and I got a letter

I agree that there were women who did not get a letter or enough notice but I do think some women have selective memories.'

I'm still amazed that some women think they can claim for "lost" pension -from the old age of 60. The ombudsman has already decided it is to do with lack of notice

Just to be clear, WASPI has never claimed for “lost”pension. Just for what the Ombudsman has recommended - fair compensation for lack of notice.

What do you mean about selective memories? Do you think the Ombudsman has got it all wrong?

This is one of the surveys DWP used to gauge awareness of SPA.

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130107093842/http:/research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003-2004/rrep221.pdf

The report is based on analyses of module questions placed on the National Statistics Omnibus Survey in November 2003 and February 2004.

Page 8:

Only 43 per cent of all women who will be affected by the increase in SPA could identify their SPA as being 65 years or between 60 and 65.

From the first Ombudsman report published 2021.

115. Unpublished DWP research from 2007 found 85% of women aged 48 to 59 knew State Pension age was going to be equalised, but many women did not know when it would happen. The research also found that 50% of women whose State Pension age had risen to between 60 and 65, and 36% of women whose State Pension age had risen to 65, still thought that it was 60. DWP told us that if people are aware of the changes, they can find out their own State Pension age.

116. An internal DWP memo from April 2007 described the 2007 research findings as ‘depressing reading’. The memo reflects on the lack of progress since 2004 and the prospect of future complaints from women. It states:^

‘You floated the idea of contacting the Ombudsman to get a feel for how she would react to claims from women saying they had never been told or were not aware that state pension age is increasing. In the light of the lack of upward movement from our 43% base figure from 3 years ago, we suggest putting this off until we can explain our strategy from here to get the message over. If we go now, we face being painted into a corner. Despite a really strong defensive brief, we still have 50% “ignorance levels” with three years to go. [The Ombudsman’s] first question will be what are you proposing to do about it?’

117. A ministerial submission from December 2007 shows DWP knew people did not understand the impact of the changes for them. It says: ‘One of the key issues is that whilst some women do in fact have an awareness of the impending change, they do not understand how this relates specifically to them’.

Aveline

eazybee maybe that would be fair if women had had equal opportunities for the 40+ years most of us paid in. However, some looked after young children, others suffered the well known gender pay gap. Such facile statements as yours are enraging. Just think about it.

?? Women who paid in full NI for 40+ years get full SP
( current qualification is 35 years NI contributions or credits)

Parents who were at home looking after children under 12, and in receipt of Child Benefit can claim NI credit for those years ; reducing "paying in " years to 23. ( accumulated before and after childcare)

The gender pay gap (on full time employment) per se, does not reduce either her working NI contribution record or, her entitlement to SP.

Not a sniff of a letter but I accidentally found out, quite some years later, that the DWP had made the decision to stop sending letters because it was found not to be cost effective.

In other words thousands upon thousands of women are not even worth the cost of a second class stamp. I despair.

And I'm just waiting for the post that says: "of course, I can't remember whether or not I got a lettter - but, anyway, my husband told me all about it, so that's alright then."

I never got a letter either

mae13

Not a sniff of a letter but I accidentally found out, quite some years later, that the DWP had made the decision to stop sending letters because it was found not to be cost effective.

In other words thousands upon thousands of women are not even worth the cost of a second class stamp. I despair.

Now that makes sense - and I'd be willing to bet that anyone expressing doubts about this policy would have been told "Never mind - divide and rule - and some women will turn on their colleagues and tell them it's their fault they didnt know/they must have had a letter really". Yeah well - we can see that there are some women indeed turning on other people and saying "You must have....you must have.....just because I did....".

Logic and knowing that this country operates a lot on deliberate "British inefficiency" would dictate that maybe those who actually got sent letters might have been those who would lose the greatest amount of pension. I can just picture some mandarin sitting there saying "Ah - we'll just send letters to those that are going to lose the whole 5 years...and then tail off somewhere along the line..just to save ourselves staff time". I would be willing to bet that's what happened. They'd have deliberately saved themselves on as many stamps as they figured they could get away with - but I think it more likely they were out surreptitiously to save on staff time figuring out just who should get a letter.

I seriously would be willing to bet that's what they were up to...

I worked in payroll, we had plenty of notice. Too long ago to remember if I had a letter

Which payroll?! There must have been thousands of payroll depts

Well I lost the full 6 years, CariadAgain, and just got the one letter, the one telling me it was going up again from 64y 10m to 66y. I seem to remember some very unladylike words being uttered.

Parents who were at home looking after children under 12, and in receipt of Child Benefit can claim NI credit for those years

butterandjam we got Home Responsibilities Protection, ie our national insurance credit, for being in receipt of family allowance/child benefit until the youngest child was 16 in those days.
My friend mistakenly thought it was until her youngest child left school at 18, and had to back pay two years contributions to preserve her full pension entitlement.

I believe it's 12 years now, though I don't know when it changed.

kjmpde

V3Ra- I was born December 1957 and I got a letter

I agree that there were women who did not get a letter or enough notice but I do think some women have selective memories.'

I wonder if it depended where you worked, or who for?
I was self-employed (still am) and went from expecting my state pension at 60 to 65, then 66.
As I was also paying into a personal pension plan I decided to carry on paying into that as well, so that has worked in my favour!

I lost 6 years and didn't get a letter.

If we weren't worth the cost of a stamp, there could have been public service announcements between TV shows. 'Wear a hat, and keep your head', or 'Learn to swim, young man, learn to swim', anyone? There were PSAs for everything from children not playing on railway lines to staying in lane on motorways. Why not let people know that way? Could it be that it would be poor PR for any government in power at the time?

I knew about the changes - I'm not 100% sure how, but I have always been in a union, and suspect that they would have let members know. I did read financial pages, but I know not everyone did.

I also know, however, that many women had no idea - sometimes they found out after resigning from their jobs expecting to get a pension. These days it is easy to check things online, but that was not always the case, and it is very possible that those who came late to the Internet are more likely to be those who didn't read papers or watch news-based TV.

I always ask this, but never get an answer. Why do those who doubt women who tell them they were unaware think they are doing so? What will they stand to gain? If there is compensation it will go to everyone, whether they know or not - it would be impossible to evaluate individual cases.

It was in all the post offices; I got a letter in my payslip as well as a government letter; on the news. I think that many women though it did not apply to them and it washed over.

Pensions were something often that women thought was something their husbands dealt with. Many women of this age also were advised to, and paid the "married woman's stamp" meaning that they relied on their husband's contributions for a pension.

There was also that they could leave work and get "dole", but these rules changed to family income assessed and for 6 months only.
What a lot of complainers often say is too sick to work, but do not seem to be applying for those support options. Or they are divorced/single, but are not seeking those benefits either.

The WASPI women that I DO sympathise with are those born between 1953 and 1955, because I saw very little publicity about the additional increase in wait, nor the change with the new rules that say that you cannot use your spouse's contributions.

I remember a letter and think it was in 2011. In my understanding the Ombudsman made the decision that it was not enough notice for the big delay in paying the pension. Not all about a letter

RosesandLilac

Doodledog

I couldn’t remember if I’d got a letter or not, so put in an FOI request (as advised by WASPI). I didn’t get one.

I did this too, no letter.

Lots of publicity about the website where you can get a quote www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-basics/pension-calculator

If you do not get a reply to an FOI request you can write for a review and then complain to the Information Commissioner

I may have been unclear. Sorry if so. I did get a reply to my FOI request and it told me there is nothing on record to say I had been informed of the changes to my SPA.

From the PHSO 2021 report:

86. Between April 2009 and March 2011, DWP wrote to 1.2 million people affected by the 1995 Act (including women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953). Due to proposals to increase State Pension age to 66, direct mailing was paused in March 2011. It resumed after the Pensions Act 2011 became law. DWP wrote to men and women affected by the 2011 Act between January 2012 and November 2013.

89. Three complainants from the sample group say they did not receive letters, despite being told during the complaints process that they would have been sent a letter between October 2012 and November 2013. DWP does not have a record of who it wrote to, so we are not in a position to clarify which women were sent letters. We cannot discount the possibility, though, that some letters were lost in the post, some were undeliverable due to incomplete address data, or some were received and mislaid or forgotten. We also recognise that a direct mail exercise is unlikely to achieve a 100% success rate.

Didn't apply to me, but I can remember all the newspaper and media publicity when the changes were announced. Lot of discussion at work with younger colleagues.

V3ra

^Parents who were at home looking after children under 12, and in receipt of Child Benefit can claim NI credit for those years^

butterandjam we got Home Responsibilities Protection, ie our national insurance credit, for being in receipt of family allowance/child benefit until the youngest child was 16 in those days.
My friend mistakenly thought it was until her youngest child left school at 18, and had to back pay two years contributions to preserve her full pension entitlement.

I believe it's 12 years now, though I don't know when it changed.

The home responsibilities NI credit was not introduced until 1978, I stayed home to care for our two sons for 9 years and returned to work in 1975. I had also paid the married woman’s stamp from marriage until I had our first child because it was the thing to do then, by the time I found out I could have purchased missing years it was too late.

This whole WASPI movement imo is very similar to women who opted for the cheaper married woman's NI cont , benefited from years of paying less into the system and then complained that they weren't entitled to the full state pension amount.

I definitely did not get a letter and as my job involved overseas travel I did not hear or read anything about it. First I knew was when I didn't get it!!!

knspol

This whole WASPI movement imo is very similar to women who opted for the cheaper married woman's NI cont , benefited from years of paying less into the system and then complained that they weren't entitled to the full state pension amount.

In what way are the groups similar?

One group paid in less all their married lives. The other (assuming you mean 50s born women) had their SPA increased without sufficient notice, and with no account taken of the discrimination they faced that (in many cases) affected their ability to pay into occupational pensions.

Two very different scenarios, IMO.