Ask the Pensions Minister about the future of pensions

Ripoff_2

Just to let you know that there is a statement in the commons today 8/12/10 at 12:30 by Steve Webb the pensions minister about pensions and indexing.

Ripoff_2

mrs_formby wrote: »

Minister
If you had been born female after April 6th 1954 and before 1st January 1956 you would already have had your pension age delayed by up to 5 years. Why has this government chosen to single out this particular group and make them wait until 66 before receiving their state pensions? You may say you must start savings somewhere but being a member of this group, I feel doubly discriminated against. A man born in this period has not had his retirement age delayed by 6 years. Have your advisers said this particular group of women have been "walked over" most of their life & will just accept it ? As it is well documented that women, and especially those in their 50's, are still not paid as much as men for the same jobs, I do think you are rubbing our noses in it, don't you?
From
Mrs Formby

Woman in this group have been particularly hit very hard and I have written to the Minister on this, along with my own issues but like all things with this Government I don't think they really care.

They speak about fairness all the time but so far they are doing things so quickly that fairness seems to have gone out the window. They have not thought any of this through and like the tuition fees for students, which quite frankly is a shambles, I get the impression that some of these changes have been done on the back of a fag packet.

Many professionals have asked them to slow down with policy changes and make sure that they are really workable but their ears are closed and their minds focused on one thing, they have now got tunnel vision.

Maybe some really bad electorial results will help them re-focus but in the meantime, you ALL must put pen to paper and write to the minister Steve Webb and your local MP.

Seronera

dunstonh wrote: »

MPs typically have a shorter time to qualify for benefits. They havent got the security of 40 years in the same role. So, in that respect it is common sense that they get a faster accrual rate.

So everybody else is in secure employment then and can guarantee their income and contributions over their entire working life I suppose. What rot.

Seronera

Old_Slaphead

dunstonh wrote: »

MPs typically have a shorter time to qualify for benefits. They havent got the security of 40 years in the same role. So, in that respect it is common sense that they get a faster accrual rate.

Does anybody have the security of 40 years in the same role ergo why don't we all have similar schemes available to us?

nb many don't even have the 5 years security guaranteed to MPs

lamb1102

I have seen it reported that the Govt. is considering looking at early access to funds in an individuals Pension savings. No doubt there would be certain restrictions and possibly penalties.
I would imagine cases of financial hardship where somebody has a large pension fund would be one of the situations looked at.
There are numerous ways of doing something like this, such as repayable loans from the fund or early access to the lump sum. This is quite an involved area of pensions but does anyone have any opinions on whether this is a good idea ? I know they allow this in the USA and NZ.
Personally I think it is a good idea but obviously we dont want a situation where people are raiding their pension funds and leaving themselves in a bad position come retirement or just using it for possible tax avoidance.
I think if people knew that in certain circumstances they could access a part of their pension fund to help them through rough times without too heavy a penalty then more people would have an interest in saving in a pension fund and saving more money also.

maybug_2

Ripoff wrote: »

Woman in this group have been particularly hit very hard and I have written to the Minister on this, along with my own issues but like all things with this Government I don't think they really care.

They speak about fairness all the time but so far they are doing things so quickly that fairness seems to have gone out the window. They have not thought any of this through and like the tuition fees for students, which quite frankly is a shambles, I get the impression that some of these changes have been done on the back of a fag packet.

Many professionals have asked them to slow down with policy changes and make sure that they are really workable but their ears are closed and their minds focused on one thing, they have now got tunnel vision.

Maybe some really bad electorial results will help them re-focus but in the meantime, you ALL must put pen to paper and write to the minister Steve Webb and your local MP.

I am a 56 year old women so I am affected by this. I have written to Steve Webb and my local MP twice each. I have had no replies other than my local MP's secretary saying my MP will write to me, but I have heard nothing more.

Prof_as_was

If you're still gathering questions - yesterday (8/12/10) on World at One, Ros Altman, pension expert, DG of Saga, alleged the existence of a separate govt pensioners' inflation index that Government never seems to mention when discussing appropriate pensioner inflation indices. Is she right? Would Mr Webb like tell us about it?

maybug_2

maybug wrote: »

I am a 56 year old women so I am affected by this. I have written to Steve Webb and my local MP twice each. I have had no replies other than my local MP's secretary saying my MP will write to me, but I have heard nothing more.

Further to my comment about not having had a reply I received an email from the Department of Work and Pensions this afternoon which was just a standard reply stating what the proposed changes for women will be (I knew that - that is why I wrote to them in the first place) and that the Government considered them fair. I would like to know why it is fair - no other age group will have their pensionable age increased so steeply during such a short timespan or are having their pensionable age increased for a second time - but I do not feel that this standard reply answers that. We all know that pensionable ages will have to increase but why target such a narrow age band so harshly compared to people born in other years? I feel that the concerns of women like me are being totally disreguarded. My pensionable age will be increased by nearly 2 more years (on top of the 4 year increase that has already taken place). As this is another 10 years away I do wonder if there will be more delays announced before then. It makes retirement planning very difficult when the Government repeatedly changes the goal posts like this. One increase was enough - why hit the same small age group twice (and so near to retirement), rather than keeping to the original increase which was devised to minimise the impact of the changes. In the scheme of things, due to the number of women in this age group the cost of keeping to the original plan is not going to save the Government a huge amount of money but it will have a big impact on the finances on the individual women, who will lose up to 2 years' pension and therefore thousands of pounds.

JW19

Yes Mr Webb. Exactly how is it fair? I too have had the standard reply which is just not good enough. I have personally written to every MP and have had the same reply from more than one of them so this is obviously the pre planned response which frankly is just not good enough. What do you intend to do about the anomaly that some women, however poorly paid, are now almost £10,000 worse off? How can it possibly be fair that there is over a three year difference in pension age for women born only a year and a day apart? I have also written to the Dept for Pensions and have asked for answers. I am still waiting.....

maybug_2

Women born on 5 May 1953 will get their pension on 6 July 2016. Women born on 5 May 1954 get theirs on 5 May 2020. They will live to the same average age and have paid the same amount in contributions. No other age group will have such a sharp rise in pensionable age. I would like ask Mr Webb how is this fair? It might be just figures to him but it really matters to the women whose pensions are being postponed by almost a further 2 years (in addition to a previous 4 year postponement).