Are you a 1950s lady fighting the state pension injustice?

I hope that all the 1950s ladies in France are aware of the new debate that is going to be held on Feb 1st. I hope that we will all keep fighting this injustice and that apathy doesn't creep in. I have learnt how to tweet and spend a little time each day tweeting the conservatives who are currently the ones ignoring us. David Cameron seems to think that 18 months is the longest anyone will have to wait for their pension - he said so in answer to a question at PMQs this week - and not the 6 years that some of us are facing. Anyway, if you would like to keep up with the campaign against the state pension injustice felt by 1950s ladies would love to hear your thoughts, and please visit my facebook page '1950s ladies in France' and have your say there too!

I admire your optimism...in the meantime I carry on working for as long as I can.

The campaign is alive and well and growing in strength every day. You have to lose a few battles before you win the war. Baroness Ros Altmann, the pensions minister, is at least taking notice now after a long period of pretending the campaign didn't exist at all. There are many thousands of us who have 6 years to wait for our pensions and who will spend that time continuing to fight for justice. Giving in is what they want. If you would like to keep up to date with the campaign please visit my Facebook page - 1950s Ladies in France.

you are right - some baroness has stood up in the house & said there is no magic pot of money...so there we are, they've all backed down & are hoping we'll go away!

I'm glad that there is still a fight going on...but like Fiona (I'm in the same boat as her so we must be about the same age), I don't hold out much hope....I just think they will sit tight and ignore the flak...until we actually get to 2019 or whenever...

There will be no chance of anything being done retrospectively......

Er, here in France we contribute too if we have a job ;-) that's the way contributory pensions work! I worked in the UK but not for long enough so shall get 0 out, I worked in Belgium & shall get 0 out because too much hassle. Here in France I shall get something back, but as I said I think I'll have to work until I'm 80something in order to get a full pension... so look on the bright side! You have only to pay in for 30 or 35 years, it is worse elsewhere...

No worries, still a long time but nearly 66 is better than 68 :-)

Oh ! You are right, thank you ...don't know what happened there, perhaps it's age!!! That has slightly cheered me up - not a lot, I caught sight of myself this morning in harsh light...

2020 from 1954 is still 66 isn't it?

This is what the pension age calculator says for a woman born on the 10th July 1954:

You’ll reach State Pension age on 6 May 2020.

Your State Pension age is 65 years, 9 months, 26 days.

I think if you are 1954 after 5th July you like me wait until you are 68 2020...get a projected pension from DWP...my birthday is 6th July so I loose out by 3 more years!!

Yep I am also a 1954 model who has to wait until they are 66. Could have done with being informed about this earlier in my working career so that provisions could have been made. Thank heavens I have a work pension. That said it is not enough to live on. Surely any intelligent person would have scaled the changes in slowly rather than what we are facing now!

Veronique not being difficult here - this is a different system that we all contributed to for over 30 years with our NI contributions...it is very different to the French system.

You can also ask for a projected pension...I have one but it doesn't mean I will get that if they change the rule again...once you are taking a pension then you are locked in but until then you are susceptible to any changes - so even though I qualify in 2020 that doesn't mean I will get the projected income then...

This is where you can calculate your actual retirement date https://www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension

David Cameron seems to think that 18 months is the longest anyone will have to wait for their pension - he said so in answer to a question at PMQs this week - and not the 6 years that some of us are facing.

That is hard to believe, my wife's retirement date has been pushed out to about 3 days short of her 65th birthday, so for all intents and purposes an additional 5 years. This was was confirmed by the Department for Works and Pensions only last week. So David Cameron needs to get up to speed.

Not only that, insult is added to injury because of the way the extensions are being applied, a sliding scale throughout the year. So someone born at the beginning of 1953 for example will work significantly less years than someone born at the end of that year. How can that be fair, surely if this has to be done it should be on a year on year basis not sliding through a year where a few months younger means a few years extra before retirement?

French people have to work for 42 years in order to qualify for a full pension, whether men or women - there was a loophole whereby if you had 3 or more children you could retire earlier but that has been closed now, I think it applied if you had enough terms of paying-in by a certain date.

I'm 1954 - been shoved back to 2020 - so I'll be 68 missed out for 65 by 1 day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Signed it a long time ago, Sand, and have been following WASPI too! I am sad that many people think this is a case of women wanting equality until it doesn't work in their favour - not the case at all as far as I'm concerned. Nor do I subscribe to the view that women are somehow less able to work after 60 than men. Yes, many will have health problems, as will men, so that argument is fallacious. Also, I know that, while it would have been very nice for men to have had their retirement age reduced to 60, that could not be afforded, so women's retirement age HAD to increase. All I wanted was to be treated fairly and equitably, obviously not concepts our politicians (wish to) understand.

the problem arose when a male nurse tried to get equal pension rights for men with women hoping that men would be able to retire at the same age as women 60yrs old (after all the life expectancy for men is a lot less than that for women ).He eventually won his case at the european court after a few years.

The judgement being that there should be no difference between the pensionable ages of men and women.This seemed very fair however the government reacted by not reducing the age when men could retire, instead raising the age when women could retire to 65 thus complying with the courts judgement. They then looked at how life expectancy had increased and decided to increase the age when you could retire on a sliding scale age related for both men and women

Yes, I don't think anyone is arguing with the fact that pension ages should be equalised - unfortunately it has been done in a way that particularly disadvantages a group of women who have little time to make other provision for their old age. I agree with you about the tennis though.