Are pension changes fair to women?

I DESPAIR of women complaining about the changes in the state pension age (Letters). They say they were given little notice when, in fact, the reverse is true. Following an EU ruling, a Pensions Act laid out the procedure back in 1995. The ages would start to equalise gradually over a ten-year period,starting in 2010. It was widely advertised and the first change happened in 2010, which means this change is now in its seventh year. In 1997, the Labour Government stated its intention to increase the pension ages for both men and women after 2020. The Coalition government (2010-15) decided to bring forward this change to 2018 for age 65 and then increase it to 66 by 2020. Women started complaining in 2015, having ignored those affected between 2010 and 2015. Men have had to wait until 65 to draw their pensions and had to pay an extra five years’ National Insurance to get the same amount, but it’s women who say they’re hard done by. GRAHAM WHITLOCK, Spondon, Derby.

FIFTIES-BORN women have been constantly checking their pension date because the Government keeps moving the goalposts. As late as April 2016, when the pension age had moved to 63, the Government Gateway website was still quoting 60 as the retirement date for women. I’ve been given five different dates since I was 52. I even took out a ten-year, fixed-rate, interest-only mortgage based on retiring in 2016 at 62 after a check with the DWP about what my new retirement date would be — only to find it moved not once or twice but three more times. MARIANA ROBINSON, St Briavels, Glos.