Why we should all care about women’s pensions

Daniella Jenkins

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Few subjects get more yawns than pensions, yet they have a profound impact on our quality of life in old age. My passion for pensions was sparked by seeing my mother’s struggles in later life - it really seemed as if pensions were the last kick in the teeth from the patriarchy, a trend I became determined to do something about!

It won’t surprise you to learn that pensions are gendered; women are statistically likely to be worse off financially in retirement than men, regardless of educational and marital status or whether they have children. It’s no coincidence that more women rely on means tested benefits or family support when they get old. And the real sting is that women have longer life expectancies too - so we live longer lives on less money.

The sad truth is that the root causes are not new. Women’s unpaid work is unrecognised in the pensions system while work based inequities such as pay discrimination transfer employment inequalities into retirement ones. I don’t claim to have all of the answers but here’s my thoughts on three changes that could really make a different to women’s pensions:

1. Stop seeing women as the problem

Terms such as “perils and pitfalls” and “maternity penalty” suggest that women’s lives are problematic. Options such as not getting divorced, having children or working in higher paid roles that they might not otherwise want simply to increase their pensions are not realistic for the majority of women. Moreover, these solutions ask individual women to mitigate the inequalities caused by the pensions system. Women shouldn’t have to change to suit pensions - pensions should change to better serve women.

2. Actively engage with women

The scandal of the WASPI women - 1950s-born women whose state pension age increase was accelerated, leaving many unexpectedly waiting for their pensions for longer than they had budgeted for - showed the devastating impact of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) failure to communicate pensions changes clearly. There is also a new scandal growing, as it was not made clear to many older women (who are relegated to lower state pension payments) that they needed to inform DWP when their husbands reached state pension age at 65. Nor are younger women immune from the communication gaps, with many missing out on carers’ credits towards their state pension because they do not claim Child benefit. Women rely on state pensions much more as they have less income from occupational or private pensions. Despite this, women are expected to navigate a complicated system alone and without guidance. It is incumbent on the DWP and the government to communicate clearly with women of all ages about pensions, so that everyone can feel confident in the amount of state pension they will get.

3. Think creatively

Our current pension system is based on a 1950s ideal and doesn’t reflect the complexities of many women’s lives, from job sharing and freelance working to the care work many women do to prop up our fragile social care system. Increasingly men too are affected by these issues. We should not kid ourselves that this is a zero-sum game - fairer pensions benefit everyone. My research reframes pensions along gender equal lines by thinking differently about how we age and work. I’m hoping to bring others along with me and would love to hear from the WE community - particularly younger women who still have some time before retirement - about your experiences and ideas on how we can change pensions for the better. We don’t need handouts, just recognition for what we do already.

Daniella Jenkins is Executive Director of the WOW Foundation and a Policy Advisory Group member of the Women’s Budget Group. You can get involved or find out more about her pensions research at www.thefeministpensionproject.com

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Bridget Green commented 2020-08-24 18:28:48 +0100
I have spent much of the last 4 years fighting the injustice foisted on women born in the 1950s. Government just want us to ‘die’ and let them get on with tearing our society apart. ALL women should look to the future, because you feel finiancial stable at this point, retirement (if they let you) is a minefield. The goalposts are continually moving. Reading 2 articles today https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/comment/article-8656259/RUTH-SUNDERLAND-Viral-threat-womens-jobs. and https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/waspi-campaigners-urge-younger-women state, the case more eloquently than I can and Lorraine’s previous comments put into context just how bad it is for many thousands of women in our age group. My own situation is one of signing on for NI credits, living on savings and my husbands pension. Do you know what it is like to be an indendant woman and to loose that financial independance through no fault of your own? Why am I signing on for credits you might ask … the goal posts moved again and instead of requiring 30 years NI, you now need 35, but they must be “full” to qualify for the ‘New State Pension’. 80% of women are affected due to the type of work we have done, teaching, nursing any public service meant that we and our employer paid less NI (because we were paying into a works pension) Suffice to say I need 52 years NI contributions but can only achieve 50, before I reach 66. Needless to say men were given ‘auto credits’ to protect their pension rights if they left employment between the age of 60-65. (To keep them off the unemployment register). If a women doesn’t wish or finds the job searching, jobs fairs and courses to onerous then it will cost them in the region of £773 peryear they are short) You must learn from out situation, empower and educate women to provide for their futures.
Bridget Green
Birmingham
Kim Thomas commented 2020-07-30 11:51:54 +0100
I retired as a Music Teacher to find no State Pension for me. I had no occupational pension so had no income whatsoever. I had just moved out of an abusive household but had no choice but to move back in again, at least for the time being. My husband also didn’t know about the 1995; 2007; 2011; 2016 Pension Acts and Changes either, despite reading newspapers, and expected me to contribute to the interest only mortgage so because I couldn’t, we lost our home. Besides not informing me of the SPA increases, it seems the government overlooked the fact that women can have children into their 40’s and 50’s and failed to make an impact assessment for them. So my children, 15 and 17, and I were left homeless and without any income whatsoever, as my husband had always had the Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits in his name and never gave me housekeeping, and all my very part-time earnings had gone into the family kitty so no savings. It was so long ago so I didn’t think I could do anything about it legally and didn’t have the funds. I did write to the DWP a couple of years ago but was told they weren’t dealing with any more complaints. I’d never had a TV or Radio or Computer nor Newspapers or Magazines so didn’t see or hear anything-goodness knows how people with sensory loss and learning disabilities were supposed to hear about it-not to mention domestically abused and religious people who weren’t allowed these things!
Anyway, being a stoical person, I tried to move on with my life. I managed to have the CHB and CTC’s put in my name so was able to feed the children at least and asked a friend of the family to lend me the 6 months up front required to rent a property. I retrained in Autism Support but found that too dangerous for a small 60 year old and retrained as a Community Support Worker, working from 06.30-22.30 and driving 2-3000 miles per month for less than a Dustman and struggled as rent and council tax are £800. Not surprisingly, I got RSI Tendinitis and my second car packed up and I couldn’t afford another. After a 9 week wait, in which we were destitute and at risk of homelessness again, I received my “Award” of only £9.50 a week after rent, because of the LHA and Advance Repayments. At the beginning of Lockdown the Council took away my only bus as a “non essential journey” so I couldn’t work all that time and things are desperate and I often feel suicidal and have anxiety and depression. I also have had no heating for most of 3 years and there is no foodbank for 16 miles. UC payments went up as well as the LHA so I now get £36 per week plus £18.5 Discretionary Housing Allowance, that’s £54 a week which is better but I can only pay my water bill; my smart ’phone (£3 pw) and a tiny bit towards my electric and council tax debts. What sort of “Welfare Support” is that for Women in my situation and where are these “Apprenticeships” I was told to get by Guy Opperman-who would want to employ a 63 year old woman when there is such incentive to choose a young person? I thought the law says that one needs £73 a week to live on but CAB says this is legal. I have 3 years to go until my State Pension and since I have been given no transitional payments to help me through these challenging 6 years, I appear to be stuck. I think I need to move to an area with transport so as to be able to work but how do I do that with hardly a penny to my name? State Pension should be given when required NICS are obtained, I was told 30-I have 30.
Lorraine.
Caernarfon.