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Original poster

WASPI Women - getting compensated

263 replies

CanSeeClearlyNowTheRainHasGone · 11/11/2025 20:02

I've just read this:

The government will reconsider its decision not to award compensation to Waspi women, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has said.

And I'm livid at the incompetence of Labour.

Having put the issue to bed once, they are now going to create a heap of trouble for themselves.

Either they decide (again) not to make any payouts - in which case, cue more outrage from WASPI and negative headlines.

Or they decide now that they will make payouts - which goes directly against the whole "we have to raise taxes" budget.

Or are they really so stupid that they're going to carry on paying everyone, raising salaries for Public Sector, 2-child cap, WFP, etc and carry on bleating about a black hole and how we must all pay more tax.

Am I being unreasonable that this seems like madness?

OP posts:
MontyDonsBlueScarf · 12/11/2025 10:07

MikeRafone · 12/11/2025 05:32

It’s not the fact it was changed, but it changed much faster than originally planned.

changing the goal posts and letting everyone know is ok ( to a point) but it was the second change and rushing that along that was so unfair

This. The issue is much more complicated than most people seem to think.

It seems that the government missed an important piece of evidence, and it's only right that they should consider it now, Whether that leads to a different decision remains to be seen.

To my mind the bigger issue now is how did it happen that this evidence was missed in the first place? That destroys confidence in all government decisions, not just this one.

MidnightPatrol · 12/11/2025 10:01

nomas · 12/11/2025 05:25

Fuck sake, seriously? Taxes are going to go up and now millennials and gen z (who won’t retire until age 68+) have to fund pension compensation for boomers who should have planned better. How is £1k each going to replace a pension anyway?

Fucking Labour.

Exactly.

Extra money for people who are annoyed they couldn’t retire at 60 - paid for by people who won’t be getting a state pension until their 70s (if at all tbh).

Plus whatever sum of money is being wasted on going back and forth arguing about what to do.

Original poster
CanSeeClearlyNowTheRainHasGone · 12/11/2025 09:58

thankgoditssaturday · 12/11/2025 01:47

It’s probably some legal issue that they can’t just put to bed. Thank god people are able to have a voice and protect themselves when governments make changes. If you want to moan at the government, moan at them for not taxing the multimillionaires, why concentrate your annoyance on women that were approaching retirement then found out the goal posts had shifted massively for them. Women always hate on women don’t they?

I'm not hating on women.

I'm hating on labour's apparent incompetence about managing issues and producing negative headlines.

Take WFP, they summarily axed it at a level too low. Then reintroduced it at a level too high. Then produced a convoluted system where you get it then have it reclaimed by tax. And then finally where you have it reclaimed before you've even got it ffs.
All they had to do was make it taxable. Quick. Easy. Simple to administer. And no-one would have objected.

That said, as some PP have pointed out, this is likely a judicial review thing and will affect nothing.

My fault for posting without all the facts - I just thought it was yet another example of the tension between backbenches (pay lots of welfare, that's why we exist) and the PM (i can only think like a lawyer) and thr chancellor (we have no money).

The one thing I used to admire about the conservatives is that mostly they had those arguments in private and presented a decent facade of knowing what they were doing.

OP posts:
MikeRafone · 12/11/2025 05:32

It’s not the fact it was changed, but it changed much faster than originally planned.

changing the goal posts and letting everyone know is ok ( to a point) but it was the second change and rushing that along that was so unfair

nomas · 12/11/2025 05:25

Fuck sake, seriously? Taxes are going to go up and now millennials and gen z (who won’t retire until age 68+) have to fund pension compensation for boomers who should have planned better. How is £1k each going to replace a pension anyway?

Fucking Labour.

InterestedDad37 · 12/11/2025 05:03

I wasn't paying attention to the issue way back when because a) I'm a bloke and b) I'm not in that age group - but I was fully aware of the change many years before it happened. I can remember talking about it with my sister, who is directly affected
She's a very disorganized person, and financially not very astute (by her own admission), yet she was obviously aware.
I was also aware of changes to my own situation regarding pension age (went up by two years).

AnnaQuayInTheUk · 12/11/2025 03:09

There's already a very long thread about this.

thankgoditssaturday · 12/11/2025 01:47

It’s probably some legal issue that they can’t just put to bed. Thank god people are able to have a voice and protect themselves when governments make changes. If you want to moan at the government, moan at them for not taxing the multimillionaires, why concentrate your annoyance on women that were approaching retirement then found out the goal posts had shifted massively for them. Women always hate on women don’t they?

caringcarer · 12/11/2025 00:30

The pure incompetence of this government astounds me. If they giv £3k to every one of the women born in 1950's it will cost you very £10 billion. Most of these women knew full well pension ages were changing because it was on TV news, in newspapers and there was huge outrage at the time so everyone was talking about it. It's similar to giving away the Chargos Islands then paying g to rent it back. Allan total madness. No wonder Starmer is faci g a leadership challenge. The problem is Labour have no one else as my more suitable to lead them imho.

plumclafoutis · 11/11/2025 22:40

Calm down. It hasn’t happened yet.

Happyher · 11/11/2025 20:17

Is t it to do with something brought up in a court case? If so they probably have no option but to review their position

letshavetea · 11/11/2025 20:16

Not if like me you’re a Waspi woman and have lost out massively due to government incompetence. I will believe it when I see it!

mutinyonthetwix · 11/11/2025 20:07

Probably just a procedural thing. There is some evidence which I do not believe has been specified which requires consideration. There is no way the position could or should change though.

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