General Discussion

This is all tied in with the state pension age and, more to the point, the state pension age for women.

I know I've another thread going on about the rising state pension age for women (see https://www.dawlish.com/thread/details/45135) but I thought to start a separate thread about the bus pass issue because of what I overheard in a Dawlish shop the other day.

One woman to another woman "Oh my husband has just qualified for his bus pass and he keeps asking me where we are going off to each day". Other woman " Oh that's nice".

Woman number one "Well, yes as he's 63 he qualifies for his bus pass". Second woman "Oh it's 63 now is it for the bus pass. I didn't know that".

Well..........it is, and it isn't.

The age at which men (and women) qualify for a bus pass is the age at which women qualify for their state pension. Thus women who last Sunday reached  their state pension age (they will be aged approximately 63 and a half) will have also become entitled to a bus pass as will men of the same birth date. With me?

But......as the age at which women qualify for their state pension increases (and thus also for a bus pass) so too does the age at which men qualify for their bus pass.

So.....if you a man in your early 60s and you are reading this then click on the link I have given earlier in this post. Then look at the table I have posted for when women reach their state pension age. Where you find your birthdate is when you will become eligible for a bus pass even if that date is before you, as a man, reach your state pension age.