In the UK, women like myself that were born in the 1950s had their pensions removed from them due to the government imposing a higher age for retirement. Economists estimated that it cost 1950s women at least £50,000.
The Daily Express report that hope for a compensation verdict will come any day now and the women could get £15,000 each. A year ago the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman made a judgement in favour of the women in the first stage of the investigation.
The express shares that they are now in the second stage, investigating whether the "maladministration led to injustice". This part of the investigation should be completed any day now. The third and final stage will be a recommendation to Parliament, with MPs having the final say. The earliest that could happen is in September because parliament is on summer recess until then.
A majority of 1950s women were hard workers with a great work ethic. Our generation knew what work ethic is and we started young. For instance, I started part-time work in three different jobs at age 13. Then was removed from school and sent to full-time work in the office at age 15, I also carried on with a Saturday job, and also worked a few nights in retail in the heart of the west end in London.
I worked six days a week well into my 20s. In my 30's, I worked full-time and also ran a part-time business. In my 40's I was running two companies full-time, exhibiting at weekends, and worked 2-3 evenings a week too.
In my 50s I was still working full-time and at weekends, then during the peak of the menopause I found that I was forced to slow down due to my health. Too much hard work doesn't do your health much good. Our generation of women began working much younger than most young people do today. Today, they don't even leave school until they're 18 years old. By that time I was responsible for a £9M budget working in a London Advertising Agency.
By the time I reached 60 I couldn't go out to work or carry anything heavy. X-rays, MRI scans, etc etc. Visits to the hospital included Neurology, Rheumatology, Orthopaedics, Cardiovascular, Muscular and Skeletal, Dermatology with Dental surgery at the hospital.
Yet when I reached 60, I wasn't allowed to receive my pension that I was told that I would receive at that age when I started work. Has far as I am concerned, an agreement made when people start work, is a legal agreement that should be kept and honoured by the government. Other countries in Europe did not do what the British government did to our women. Other countries in the EU phased in their pension age changes much slower, giving women far longer to adapt to any changes being made.
What else did DWP do? My dad passed over age 57, he also started full time work at age 13. After leaving the military, he was a printer on national newspapers and later in life he moved into management. He paid a huge amount of tax and N.I. during his working life and when he passed over, my mum didn't receive a penny from his government pension that she was entitled too has his widow.
Its estimated that there are at least 300,000 women that didn't receive the pension amounts that they were entitled too. I wrote to DWP about it after an article appeared in the Daily Mail. I am still waiting for a response. Our mother passed over in 2005, and the money owed to my mother is supposed to go to her children. So when will we get a response and the money that is owed DWP?
Why do women have to fight for everything that they are owed?
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