Women lose landmark legal fight against state pension age rise - MSE News

Thrugelmir

Juebrads wrote: »

I am now 64 having given up my NHS career due to longer shifts. I am too old to work and cannot do shifts anymore. I want my life back. But face poverty for the rest of it because of discrimination, part time working and being a housewife for ten years, single parent for 15 years.

Giving up was your choice. Many people have little option than to continue to work for a whole variety of reasons. Nor are they as fortunate to have the benefit of such a good pension scheme available to them.

hyubh

Juebrads wrote: »

I left the NHS due to ill health at 58.

You're in receipt of an ill health pension from the NHS...? If so, things could certainly be a lot worse. And if you aren't, is that because you opted out...?

I was expecting my pension at 60 and instead found myself working full time in menial work that men are paid more to do.

What evidence do you have of this? Would be against the law.

Funnily enough we still do not have parity in wages with men

Core reason why aggregate pay is less is because having children disproportionately affects a woman's career progression.

woolly_wombat

Juebrads wrote: »

I am now 64 having given up my NHS career due to longer shifts. I am too old to work and cannot do shifts anymore. I want my life back. But face poverty for the rest of it because of discrimination, part time working and being a housewife for ten years, single parent for 15 years.

I know several women who worked part time as low paid school science technicians to fit in with family responsibilities, and who were for many years barred from LGPS membership. They were eventually allowed to join the LGPS after a series of court cases, culminating in a European Court of Justice judgment:
https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/part-time-workers-history-of-part-time-workers-pensions-guidance-for-employment-tribunal/

Those women are my former colleagues, and they have told me that they were unable to afford payments to secure back-dated membership.

I understand that many NHS professionals, such as practice nurses, were similarly affected.

seven-day-weekend

woolly_wombat wrote: »

I know several women who worked part time as low paid school science technicians to fit in with family responsibilities, and who were for many years barred from LGPS membership. They were eventually allowed to join the LGPS after a series of court cases, culminating in a European Court of Justice judgment:
https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/part-time-workers-history-of-part-time-workers-pensions-guidance-for-employment-tribunal/

Those women are my former colleagues, and they have told me that they were unable to afford payments to secure back-dated membership.

I understand that many NHS professionals, such as practice nurses, were similarly affected.

I also was not allowed to join the LGPS as a part-timer.

This rule actually applied until the mid-1990s.

Silvertabby

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I also was not allowed to join the LGPS as a part-timer.

This rule actually applied until the mid-1990s.

The LGPS 'no part timers' rule (which ended in 1995) applied equally to men and women. Yes, more women than men worked part time - but we're back to personal choices.

seven-day-weekend

Silvertabby wrote: »

The LGPS 'no part timers' rule (which ended in 1995) applied equally to men and women. Yes, more women than men worked part time - but we're back to personal choices.

Oh yes I agree. I was just making a statement of fact. I am not a WASPI person!

Davy_Jones_II

Juebrads wrote: »

Actually most of these women have suffered gross discrimination all of their lives. Rape of a wife was legal until 1991, in the 70s women could not get mortgages on their own merits unless back by a man, women struggles to join company pension schemes, were discriminated against with promotion and many married and stayed at home to look after their ( man and woman’s) children. Women have been stitched up in divorces, where they did not have access to the mans pension that only came in later in the 90s. So women like me who have looked after two children - taking a career break to do so, working part time after my ex had a few affairs again to ensure our children were cared for and fighting for the right to have him pay maintainance, working part time until my children no longer needed my support - I now work full time to try and recoup my pathetic pension and even more pathetic state pension.

Oh but women are truly greedy little beings out to stitch up men.

If only there was some pithy phrase that could sum up the idea that you do not correct a wrong by adding a different wrong, hoping that they somehow cancel out.

If someone’s able to think how to simp,y express this, then I think that that phrase would be apt here.

Davy_Jones_II

Juebrads wrote: »

It has been accepted the government could have done more, like change the information on their own website in a timely fashion. I did not have tv nor a radio, nor did I buy papers.

Even we’re this true (it’s not), then what of it? It doesn’t justify giving you a pension earlier than a man, based on nothing more than you being female.

People have rightly been calling for proper equality for a great many years, you can’t now claim that it should remain in the few areas where it would benefit you. It was wrong that women were given an advantage here, it was wrong that they were paid less for doing the same job, both of these have now been corrected, which is morally the right thing to do.

woolly_wombat

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

This rule actually applied until the mid-1990s.

Indeed.

As outlined in the link that I provided earlier.

woolly_wombat

Silvertabby wrote: »

The LGPS 'no part timers' rule (which ended in 1995) applied equally to men and women. Yes, more women than men worked part time - but we're back to personal choices.

'Personal choices' that have had long term economic consequences for (mainly) women who worked part time to fit work around family and found themselves barred from pension membership.

It's been a lose lose 'choice' for those women.

P.S. I am not a WASPI woman either, but I do think some empathy wouldn't go amiss for women like Jubrads who find themselves in dire straits after doing their level best in difficult circumstances.