‘Women of the 1950s robbed of pensions’
FOR many women born in the 1950s the anxieties related to retirement are immensely hard to cope with and many have had the choice of how to spend their hard-earned savings ripped away by a callous government who will not so much as sit down and work out how to rectify the mistakes they made when implementing this travesty!
My story is a reflection of many women currently fighting the WASPI campaign for justice – a campaign that saw over 2,500 ladies pay an orderly, peaceful very well -eceived visit to the Houses of Parliament on June 29, 2016; a second gathering on budget day last year with over seven thousand in attendance; and a number of other local gatherings through out the country since.
A campaign hugely overlooked by politicians who hope that we will simply Buzzzzz Off!
Plans are now under way for a third rally by all campaign groups associated with the 1950s-born women.
My own circumstances reflect that of many women who were expecting to receive a pension at the age of 60.
When we started our working lives there was no equal pay, few pre school nurseries, no tax credits, no help with childcare other than willing family members.
I was given just three years’ notice in 2010 of the changes to my pension age.
I personally had been robbed of £16,500 in pension payments by the time I reached 62 and 10 months and feel very strongly that for women still waiting, they should immediately have their pension rights restored to them and have reimbursed what is owed them from the age of sixty.
As for the rest of us who now have their pension, even if delayed, we basically want back the money stolen from us by the government.
In 1940 both men and women retired at 65. The all-male government decided to reduce the age for women to 60!
In 1995 the government decided to change it again to make it fair for men in order that women retired at the same age... how was that making it fairer for men?
Surely it would have been fairer to men to allow them to retire at 60, too, and so make way for a younger work force?
Many women have visited their local MPs and spoken at length about how this is greatly affecting their lives.
It is putting a great strain on them and the suicide rate is growing among our age group.
Savings which should have been used to enjoy and enhance our hard-earned retirement are now being used to simply live on as many 1950s-born women are no longer in employment and have no income!
The government should be prioritising “ordinary” people as we are so often referred to, our people!
We paid this money in and it is now time to have it back – now!
We as elderly women are the most vulnerable section of society. I feel the government have targeted us to save money because they did not expect us to fight back. Well think again!
When George Osborne announced these measures in 2014 he boasted to the Economic Club of New York: “In the UK we have saved half a trillion pounds over the next fifty years by setting out a timetable for future increases to the state pension age – the single biggest saving we have made.”
Shame on him!
He continued: “And from April 2015 our corporation tax rate will reduce to 20%, the lowest in the G20, down from the 28% rate we inherited.”
Double shame on him!
The government say these changes were made because of an increased life expectancy. Yet we can see the truth right there. Yet another exposure of how they can twist the truth to suit!
During the past three years I have met women who have had to sell their homes in order to put food on the table. I have also sadly met women who have spent the last few months of their lives campaigning for justice instead of being allowed to slip away surrounded by loving family and friends. They never will receive their pension or justice!
Please help us in any way you feel you can in bringing this terrible injustice to an end. Thank you.