My mother was born in 1952, which now makes her 59. In a few months time she would have been entitled to a full state basic pension had it not been for the changes introduced by the last Labour Government to equalise the pension age for women with men, from 60 to 65. As a result of the transitional arrangements, which have been taking effect since 2010, my mother is no longer entitled to receive her state pension at 60 but would have to wait until she is almost 62.
Last week Labour MP Rachel Reeve reminded us of the Coalition's plans on the state pension age, which will also unfairly and disproportionately impact on women approaching pension age, particularly those now aged 56 and 57. Their entitlement to the state pension would also be delayed by up to 2 years. The point of concern is not the fundamental issue of equalising the pension age as that was the Labour Party policy, but the limited notice and time these women will have of the changes to enable them to adequately plan their financial and working lives accordingly. Some of the women are facing a double whammy of a delay, as they were already facing a longer wait for their state pension, as imposed on them by the last Labour government.
As valid as the Labour Party's pension protests are, I do hope they are based on some of the key lessons that they should learn about the pension (and welfare) reforms they introduced whilst in government, which also 'reaped injustice' on women. The approach in Government was too often one where vulnerable and hard working people were penalised when they should have been supported more.
Around the time the Labour government introduced the pension age changes, my mother was unfortunately made redundant. The factory where she had worked for 20 years closed. She has been working in factories or doing manual labour for almost four decades and she worried about her employment prospects for the years until she would become a pensioner. The additional 2 years wait for her state pension only added to the anxiety.
The fears led her to opt to start receiving her monthly private pension early. Her decades of low paid, low skilled work, often seven days a week, contributing to a pension when and where she could, entitled her to a monthly (private) pension of £140 per month. That was what her lifetime of work on factory floors amounted to. It is incidentally, almost the same amount that an MP's pension would pay out with just one year on the green benches.
For anyone in their mid to late 50's, there is very little they can feasibly do to plan any kind of contingency for a delayed state pension, other than to continue to try and work. Even if my mother managed to work for the several years until she finally became a pensioner, it would not have made much difference to her pension entitlement, state or private. It would have arguably affected her health and well-being and as a result her quality of life when she finally became a pensioner.
In the event, without making it too much of a sob story, since being redundant she has worked some short-term jobs and had to take time out to care for my father as he suffered the effects and eventual death, from terminal cancer at the age of 57. As a carer, like many others, she did not expect nor obtain any support. Now as she almost reaches 60, she is still on the job market with the difficult challenge of finding work to earn a living until the time she can rely on the small comfort of the state pension.
The brutal reality is she has too often been rejected for cleaning jobs that barely pay the minimum wage. Like many older workers who have spent decades in manual jobs, she is physically no longer a match for younger, nimble and fitter workers, particularly from, it has to be said, Eastern Europe. They can no doubt clean toilets and empty bins quicker and faster than she can. She certainly does not blame them or anyone for her fate but she does believe that the Labour Party, who she has supported all her working life, let down older working class women like her.
Even if she had a few more years notice of the pension changes, it would not have made much of a difference. How could it? What options do people like her have? And yet this is what it seems the Labour Party's pension policy is about - simply requesting a few years more notice for women who are also facing the prospect of unfair delays in receiving their state pension. It amounts to little more than a policy of protest that merely tinkers on the edges without addressing the substantial issue of providing an alternative pensions policy platform.
Some of the Tories state pension proposals would actually greatly benefit someone like my mother, particularly the idea of having a flat rate pension of £140 (at today's prices) without means testing and making the link to earnings. Yet while the Labour Party was in power it failed the test of fairness by not having the pragmatic and bold policies or even a vision for pensions.
In its manifesto at the last election, the pledge to link pensions to earnings was there but it failed to act in all the years of power. There was little else in the manifesto for pensioners and there seems to be little now. Where and what are its big ideas for pensions reform and pensioners? Where is the vision for the future? As valid as protests are they do not replace the need for policies.
Until the time she receives her state pension, my mother will need to continue to get by on her private pension and support from family. She is fortunate in that she scrimped and saved and managed to support all her children through university and they are now in a position to ensure she is not destitute. Many others will not be so fortunate. However, we all worryingly acknowledge that if there were higher education fees as high as they are today, none of us would have gone to university. Sadly, this illustrates yet another example of a policy (student fees) the Labour Party initiated, leaving the door ajar for the Tories to simply come in and exploit, to the further detriment of people from ordinary and low-income households.
I hope my Party's policy unit, should one exist, is not run by people, like in the last Government, who simply decided policy based on what they thought public opinion was and what the right wing media want to hear, but is actually run by people who have actual experience or are at least, have informed knowledge of what it is like out there in the real world for ordinary, hard working people.
While my mother commends the Party's pensions protests, she does look forward to seeing in the next Labour Party election manifesto the big ideas and policies for pensions and pensioners, based on the Party's values of fairness and social justice. She hopes they adopt an approach that seeks to reward hardworking women (and men) from low-income backgrounds and not simply punish them as they reach the most vulnerable phases of their lives.