Let& #39;s take a scenario. Correct me if I am wrong.
Man born in 1950 has a wife born 1955. They expect to retire together in 2015 when he is 65 and she is 60. But in 2010 he loses his job or gets sick. He is given 5 years auto credits on NI and allowed to retire on benefits.

No pressure to find a job. His wife carries on working/caring for him expecting to retire in 2015, then discovers just before she is 60 that her SPA has been changed to 65 ie in 2020. He will be 70 by then. No long retirement together! What choices does she have?

What she does NOT have is the right to claim auto credits.
She can carry on working as she has little private pension
She can retire anyway and accept the loss of about £40000. They can sell the house and live off savings or (when they run out) in poverty on his meagre pension.

If they have no house/savings and she loses her job, she has to claim the pittance that is JSA and apply for every unsuitable job under the sun including apprenticeships, risking sanctions all the time. She may well be sick herself by now but no chance of PIPs.

Doesn& #39;t seem very fair or equal to me