Transitional State Pension Arrangements for Women
Debate between Caroline Flint and Martin Docherty-Hughes(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Caroline Flint
I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. The problem has been compounded by the coalition Government’s decision to speed up the introduction of the equalisation of the pension age and to increase the state pension age. Those changes were made without any sense of how aware and ready women were.
Martin John Docherty (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
Will the right hon. Lady give way?
Caroline Flint
No, I am going to make some progress. I want to share the story of a constituent from Cantley, Margaret Quilter. When the Pensions Act gained Royal Assent on 14 May 2014, it was two months before Margaret’s 60th birthday. That Act pushed the date of her reaching state pension age from November 2018 to May 2020. Margaret was not notified of that change and nor was her occupational provider, the teachers’ pension scheme. All correspondence from that scheme used the 2018 date. Margaret has more than 40 years of national insurance contributions, but she was contracted out, as so many were. The amount of years of NI contributions required has also moved, and she believes that that led her to making judgments based on inaccurate information. Margaret’s is a classic case: she expected to retire at 60, then 61 and a half. That became 64 and then nearly 66.
Margaret believes that by equalising pensions at the finishing line, Governments have failed to acknowledge inequality from the start. As she told me, when she was working she barely broke even paying out for childcare for her two children, but she thought it worthwhile to keep working and to keep contributing. In her 50s, she found her retirement age was to be delayed, but at the same time her work opportunities were beginning to dry up. She feels let down. Having been assured in 2014 that there would be 10 years’ notice of future rises, at 61, having requested a forecast, she discovered the third increase to her state pension age.