State Pension rant

[willbewill]

Here's the scenario:

My friend was born September 1953, I was born July 1954. We started school on the same day and travelled through school in same school year until we were 17 and then left on the same day. We started work on the same day and continued work without a break. We retire - he receives his state pension starting on his 65th birthday, I have to wait until I am 65 and 10 months old!

Even worse with my wife, who's birthday is November 1954 - just missed out on collecting hers at age 60 by a few months and so has to wait until she is 66!!


We could have bought this with that money:

[Firebottle]

My wife was also made to wait but not quite so long.
It has basically been a huge poke in the eye for a lot of women of a certain age, what should have happened is the balance should have been struck by making the universal age 60, but that was never likely to happen.

[Virkon]

Yes this was one of the coalition's remedies for the financial crisis the likes of you and your wife didn't cause. I assume you're not fat cat bankers.

[CageyH]

I hope there is still a state pension when I retire.

[struth]

Get workin' :d

[CageyH]

Get workin' :d

I am on holiday....
I should have a maximum state pension available to me when I retire, plus a small French state pension, plus my private pension. I am just hoping I make it to retirement age now.

[struth]

I am on holiday....
I should have a maximum state pension available to me when I retire, plus a small French state pension, plus my private pension. I am just hoping I make it to retirement age now.

lucky you. i get diddly squat... so much for doing the govt's job and looking after my wife 24/7 for over 20 years. not that i begrudged doing it, but still, i saved the country a lot of cash; least they could do is give me a decent pension for it

[tapid]

Heard on the radio the other day that some experts are predicting the state pension scheme could be bankrupt by around 2032
as percentage of older folk increases year on year.

[Clive]

Heard on the radio the other day that some experts are predicting the state pension scheme could be bankrupt by around 2032
as percentage of older folk increases year on year.

I think the term "bankrupt" implies there's an investment sitting there paying out the pensions but of course that's not the case. I suppose what we need are plenty of young people coming here from other countries to work and pay NI & Tax. Oh, that's the last thing the country wants....

[mikmas]

I am on holiday....
I should have a maximum state pension available to me when I retire, plus a small French state pension,

I wouldn't bank on it ... I worked in Holland for 15 years and paid into their pension scheme thinking that I would get a (proportional) Dutch State pension on top of my UK one.

When I retired it turned out that it doesn't work like that and the Dutch contributions were simply used as credits towards my UK one ... paid at the UK maximum either way (which I would have got even if solely based on my UK contributions)