AIBU in thinking the government have made the correct decision not to blanket pay all WASPI women £3k? This goes against the Ombudsman recommendations to pay between £1k-3k to every WASPI women.

[caringcarer]

At the time it was in every newspaper for weeks, in the radio and on the TV news a lot of coverage via the media. Most women of this age agree they knew about pension age changes. At the time it was huge. I fail to understand how any women could not have known unless they lived off grid. No individual letters were sent out to the women who would be affected. The Ombudsman's recommendation was that a blanket payment of between £1k-3k be paid to all WASPI women. Labour have just announced no money will be paid out at all. It would have cost the taxpayer up to £10.5 billion pounds on top of the huge amount of my ney it has cost to review it for several years. It is money that the government just don't have. Assuming lessons have been learned and any future changes will see DWP send out letters to any individuals who it will directly affect. The only worry is that it sets a precedent of ignoring what the Ombudsman's recommendations.

Ah, so you’re unhappy about the equity in ages

No I'm unhappy that I've had to work 6 more years !

So equalising is fair, and other women should have to work 6 extra years, just not you

understood

You're being obtuse. None of us should have had to work 6 extra years because this should not have happened but it did.

So you do disagree with equality of ages after all?

im just trying to work out what your position is. It’s not clear

This government quite openly reviles the elderly and the Prime Minister couldn't bring himself to say what a woman was. Why would this be a shock to anyone?

Their pensions are secure. We are ageing women who have our own minds and speak them. They hate us, HATE us.

Do you know what fuelled all this? Some fellas took it to the European Court of Human Rights to bring DOWN the age men could retire. Fair enough. However they and our government RAISED women's retirement age and we were sold down the river. Hence pension loss. It has been interesting talking to you but I'm going to bed cos I've got to get up for work in the morning.

I am in that group and frankly, I damn well could use an extra 1K right now.

Whenever this comes up on Mumsnet it astonishes me how supportive people are of the government, regardless of which government we're talking about, and how quick they are to dismiss these women.

"They should have known" is all well and good and convenient but like most pat arguments it doesn't bear much scrutiny.

There are plenty of things reported in the news all the time : are we all expected to have the foresight to understand exactly how these events and decisions we hear about today will affect us twenty thirty, forty years hence and to plan accordingly?

Specifically and most importantly, when people's entitlement to state benefits changes, it's the state's duty to inform its citizens of this change, each one who is personally affected. This isn't even justice : it's simply basic bloody admin.

The state fucked up and labour look tight and shady as all get-out for not coughing up the token amount it's been whittled down to, after repeatedly promising to support them. Bringing in cuts that weren't on the manifesto is one thing, all governments do that. But actually reneging on a promise is something else entirely.

You're the reason that so many people hate WASPI women.

I thought the reason was patriarchy. Turns out it's all down to a woman on Mumsnet.

Oh well, every day's a school day.

£10.5 bn is less than we've handed over to Zelensky though, instead of telling him to get it from his mate who raided PrivatBank. Or indeed instead of directing him to use his own funds stashed in BVI and Belize.

I was referring to women with that attitude but then again you knew that.

Why haven’t you added a voting option OP?

And I think YABU by the way.

This. I think amounts in billions are hard to comprehend and people instinctively think that a billion is just a bit more than a million.

Syria - £50m
Train drivers - £137m
WASPI compensation. - £3,500m to £10,500m (£3.5b to £10.5b).

I have to agree with the government that this is not a good use of public funds. At the lower end it's £1,000 a head with much of that going to people who were fully aware and/or wouldn't have done anything differently had they been aware.

I also lived through this - most of us did as it wasn't even 20 years ago! The maladministration found related to decisions made from 2005 -2007 only.

That’s not what the judgement is on though! How much do you think I as a 25 year old will lose out on because of your generation only ever voting for their own self interests and never giving one thought to the future?!

All said BEFORE the Ombudsman report, which stated that 90% of women knew very well the changes were coming.

So you want to give £10 billion to people who were in no way disadvantaged?

Or is it more about criticising Labour for no good reason?

I'm not in that group and I would like to be able to retire at some point and not miss out for the sake of you getting another holiday.

Or is it more about criticising Labour for no good reason?

I know you think everything's going well for Labour but I think you'll find plenty are criticising them

Starmer's polling is in the ditch. A few posts on mn are nowhere near how badly he's doing on that score. Do you put the same effort into trying to undo that too?

I get that women are unhappy
But it wasnt a sustainableodel and it WAS communicated (I'm 40 now and was aware)

• Keir starmer actually called this one right. And i loathe this labour government

• 3k isnt radically changing anyones retirment plans.
• They had to change it at some point.
• As a 40 years old myself ive been oaying in since 18 and i wont get a penny until im 68?!?! Which is BS but it is what is it unfortunately
• People are getting shafted by income tax, cgt, inheritance, property, whatever left right and centre as these arent static variables. Its not fair but life isnt fair.

In response to your first sentence, women may live longer than men but the statistics show that women live a much longer proportion of their life in poorer health than men, which impacts ability to work and earn an income.
The UK has the 12th largest healthcare gender/sex gap in the world. Women receive much poorer care than men in this country. That is a statistical fact. We are diagnosed with major illnesses/diseases, on average, around 5-8 years later than men. We are less likely to have our symptoms taken seriously, less likely to be referred on to specialist care, less likely to receive adequate pain relief, less likely to receive basic diagnostic tests and less likely to be included in research/clinical trials. As an example of how poorly funded women’s health is…..Erectile dysfunction (which affects around 19% of men) gets FIVE times more research funding than pre-menstrual syndrome (which affects 90% of women).

It’s not the principle of whether the money should be paid it’s the fact they they have reversed a decision that had been agreed. People are just not going to believe or trust anything they pledge or say.

Exactly.

The uproar caused by the presumed consent for organ donation unless you opt out saga was similar. THAT was very widely publicised but so many people were all ‘well I haven’t seen it, they should have written us a letter’…….

90% of the women effected knew about the changes, so why should it be a payout to all of them … including the ones that knew? It would have been a gross waste of public money