Europe officially supports Transsexuals!

[Dragster]

I just caught an article on the radio today. An English male to female transsexual recently reached the age of 60, at which women can claim their state pension in the UK. Men must wait until 65 at present, although harmonisation will be applied gradually over the next 10 or 15 years, just before we all start moving towards 67 or 68, but that's another story.
Anyway, the government refused, stating "You're a man, so wait until 65". An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights ruled in this girl's favour, and said "No. You're a woman now, so the UK government must pay you your pension from 60". Unless the UK government appeals, "she" is officially a woman, and gets her pension at 60. Europe rules OK! Unfortunately, this ruling will not be so popular for the female to male TS; "he" will have to wait until 65 for his pension, but it looks as though recognition for transsexuals is taking root at last.
Pity I can't change to be a woman between 60 and 65 to get my pension, and then change back, but then, would I want to? I would, because I like my maleness most of the time, but I bet a lot here would not!

Tony

[susandrea]

That's great news! Thanks. :D

[Kimberly]

Europe rules... damn them eurosceptics!! lol. xx

[PatriciaJane]

This ruling is largely made redundant in the UK by the Gender Recognition Act, where full legal status in the acquired gender brings all (well most) rights and responsibilities of the acquired gender.

However it does have implications for those TS who are for whatever reason not obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate. At least in the short term until harmonisation of pension age is resolved.

As for the FtoM TS a friend of mine who has been in receipt of a state pension for a couple of years now. Has taken great delight in going down the Job centre to sign on again, with a view to returning to work until he reaches the age of 65. He has taken the view that it is part and parcel of being treated as a man. And having heard him complain about having been forced to retire having reached the women's retirement age I can well understand his point of view.

[DonnaT]

Although it is good news for many in Europe, in the UK at least, there is still one problem. The pension for women is reduced.

[Dragster]

Not quite true DonnaT. In the UK, the state pension is calculated by dividing the number of years you have worked and made compulsory NI (National Insurance) contributions, by the number of qualifying years required, and multiplying that by the full pension value. It's the same for men as for women. At present, a woman needs 5 less qualifying years than men, because her normal retirement age is 60 against a man's 65, but that will be phased out over the next 15 years or so.
Today, a woman needs 39 qualifying years for a maximum pension, out of her expected working life of 44 years between age 16 and her normal retirement age of 60. That number is reduced by any years she has spent bringing up her children, or caring full time for aged relatives (subject to conditions), and voluntary contributions can be also made for non working years.
In the past, married women had an option to pay significantly reduced NI contributions out of earnings (which did not qualify as contributions for a pension), and still be able to claim a pension of 60% of their husband's pension, as of right. That option is no longer available to new applicants, but many older women are still paying low NI, and will have to rely on their husbands pension, if they are still married to him! But there are also other benefits available to single women (and men) who don't have enough to live on in their old age.
It is also possible to wait up to 5 years before taking a pension and ultimately take an increased one, so a woman working to 65, and taking her pension then, will receive MORE than a man working to his normal retirement age of 65 and taking his pension immediately.
It's a complicated system, but I've just been through it, to decide whether it was worth my wife "buying" all the years available to her (it was), so I hope you've understood it all now.
What's this got to do with CDing? I guess you'll have to ask the person who wrote the first post! Oh sh*t, that was me too!!!

Tony