Fair pensions for all women!

Eager, hopeful faces shine out from this school photograph taken of pupils aged between 8 – 9 at Havelock Junior School, Desborough in the early 60’s. Carefree and innocent, these children wouldn’t have known what a pension was, much less considered the day when they would need to draw one.

All of the girls highlighted on picture are now in their sixties, still living locally, in and around the area they went to school. They have families and led busy lives working and bringing up their children, looking forward to a time when they can retire and enjoy their grandchildren.

However, government policy changes to both state retirement age and how the pension is paid have resulted in serious and upsetting repercussions for many of the women shown in the photograph. 

Women's state pension age is now set to increase to 65 by 2018 and 66 by 2020, instead of the previously proposed 2026.  By increasing these timescales, the government has reneged on its promises and slashed the time potential pensioners have to prepare for this life changing event.

If you are a women born on or after April 1953, not only will you have to work longer (up to 4 years 3 months in some cases) to claim your pension but if you were born before April, 1953; you will also lose out on the new ‘Single-tier’ State Pension, which began this year in April. Only women born on or after April 6th, 1953 will be able to collect the enhanced state pension under the new system. The hope is that these new proposals will bring to an end the poor State pension deal that most women get who have stayed at home bringing up their children or worked in poorly paid jobs.

However, it is estimated that 80,000 women will miss out on the proposed £144 a week improved pension receiving a basic state pension of just £107.45 a week – a loss of £36.55 per week for the rest of their lives. 

And consider also that by having to work longer, the women in this photograph will also be missing up to 2 years and 4 months worth of pension payments that women born before then will automatically receive.  So the loss from the first and last lady to retire could equate to a loss of over £16,000. 

Kay Wykes, née Tebbutt is very upset and said: “Jean Franklin who is just one month younger than me and started getting her pension in July this year but I have to wait another 8 months for mine. Pauline and Kay have to wait until November 2017 for theirs, it really isn’t fair.”

Married to Ken with two children, Heather Ward, née Goodman has lived in Rothwell all her life. Leaving school at 16, Heather took a secretarial course and was employed by Rigid Containers before joining local footwear manufacturers Groococks in 1973, where she has been ever since. After working for nearly 43 years, with only short breaks to bring up her two children, Heather is understandably keen to retire but was born in June 1953 and in consequence has to work an extra 3 years, 9 months before she finally does.

“I’m so disappointed and feel very let down that hard working women aren’t rewarded in this country.  I have worked all my life, brought up a family and contributing to the community.  I really don’t think it’s a lot to ask for the government to stick to their side of the bargain and pay my pension when they should. Instead I now have to wait almost four years to receive my pension.”

Two of her friends also in the picture, Pauline Panter, née Wiltshire and Kay Wykes, née Tebbutt both born in August 1953 are also concerned and disappointed as they also have been hit by the new retirement age and will not receive their pension until November 2017; the irony being that some of the boys in the photograph will be receiving their pension before they are.  

If you were to calculate, over a working lifetime, the amount a woman loses through timeout having children and now through pensions, it would add up to a sizeable amount. And don't forget that they are already subject to gender pay discrimination where men earn considerably more and even today’s pay statistics show a pay discrepancy between men and women of around 19.2%*, when full and part time employees are combined. This really is a national disgrace for these hard working women and thousands like them who throughout life have worked hard, brought up families and added to their communities. 
Over to you Damien Gere, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions! 

*Figure taken from the Equal Pay Portal.

Read Dr. Ros Altmann views on this debate..

Join WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality).

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