Govt considering u-turn on WASPI compensation

[Ticklyoctopus]

https://news.sky.com/story/government-to-reconsider-whether-to-give-compensation-to-waspi-women-13468696

Oh God no 😖😖😖😖

£20m over the course of a decade, so reduce foreign aid spending in the long run. It's also completely irrelevant.

Do elaborate

If this cohort is so rich, then it stands to reason that the next generation down will benefit massively for the sheer luck of being an offspring. Don’t hear very much complaining about that. Just like any generation benefits or otherwise from just happening to be born at a certain time.

👏👏

Yep

And who votes for the government? Everyone over 18 but the Boomers are a huge generation and not a benevolent one.

We won’t benefit at all. DH’s parents have said they’re skipping him and his brother in their will and all will go to grandchildren. Fine, their choice. But we won’t be benefitting. And most people who do ‘benefit’ will when they’re in their 60s and have already basically done a full working life and bought a home etc.

I think most people would like society to operate on merit and be able to live a good life throughout, not hoping they might inherit a few quid when they’re in their 60s.

And of course - there is no guarantee anyone will inherit a lot of money. A lot of pensioner wealth is in their pension (which won’t be inherited in most cases), and properties may end up being used to pay for care home fees.

So - there is more to it than ‘oh well you’ll inherit some money’.

Not really. Inheritances are divided up usually. Then there's care home fees. Inheritance tax is also likely to increase imo. And it massively entrenches inequality.

Could you please explain the ways you are standing shoulder to shoulder with younger women who will likely have to retire past 70, and doubt whether they will get any state pension at all?

I agree. I was just making the point that if there are SO MANY with millionaire wealth, then there is undoubtedly inheritance to the next one (or 2 as the OP says is her case). Even with tax, which I personally believe is fair because you just passively receive it, not through any effort but luck of the birth draw, many offspring will receive a fair amount, especially if they’re in an area of vast house price increase. And perhaps luck again if parent hasn’t needed care home.

Same place as the 1bn for redundancies in the NHS (And I hope to god they measure how many people take redundancy and then come back the week after)

Same place as the lifting of 2 child cap will come from.

Magic money tree.

They don't understand what growing the economy means. It means good productive jobs.

@Northquit ”Same place as the 1bn for redundancies in the NHS (And I hope to god they measure how many people take redundancy and then come back the week after)” Is that because each trust is essentially a separate employer so you could be made redundant from one, then go and work in another? I agree it’s wrong.

I think that refers to the redundancy payments for the abolition of NHS England itself. The gossip was that HM Treasury wouldn't hand over the cash for the redundancy payouts to DHSC unless DHSC agreed to absorb the costs of higher payment for medicines to US pharma companies that was promised to Trump. Some deal must have been struck somewhere in Whitehall as the redundancies are finally happening.

I would argue that 'Boomer' has become a slur. It's certainly used in that way on MN!

Snowflake generation

Seriously?! I was a teenager when the initial changes were announced and I've always been aware that women's pension ages were increasing to match men's.

Not being interested in current affairs isn't a valid claim for compensation, funded by current tax payers.

It's easy to say "stop pitting generations against each other" when the cohort who likely won't retire till 70+ will be the one paying for the generation being compensated for NOT retiring at 60

Wouldn’t it be nice if the young of today could seek to buy a house etc without having to rely on the gamble of who they were born to.

Probably already been said but ime the reason most younger people get p*ssed off by this is because we’ve barely any hope of home ownership, despite being sold the dream of better careers/salaries than our parents generation by attending university this hasn’t eventuated, most younger people families I know have two working parents and barely stay afloat, will have to work til 70+ and may not get a pension at all, maybe I’m from the wrong area but I certainly won’t be getting an inheritance nor will my partner, none of my friends are expecting anything significant…

Yup. Plus the idea that the previous generations had it so much harder than us, yet they’re the ones living in luxury now!

I mean, I was busy being a teenager, and I managed to know all about it! The news was inescapable, with endless coverage in the newspapers and on every TV discussion show (I remember my parents always being glued to Central Weekend on a Friday night) and every local and national radio station. That’s why so many of us born in the 1970s have always been cynical about our own state pension prospects

It’s not irrelevant. Because £20 million is a lot of money. And handing that sum of money to a country where corruption is rife means that there’s every chance it won’t be used for its intended purpose. £20million is £20million at the end of the day. Our country is on its knees financially - which is why Labour look set to break their election pledge not to increase taxes on working people for a second time. And why they are rowing back on the compensation that the Waspi women were going to receive.

HTH.

Of course it's irrelevant. £20m over the course of a decade is not a lot of money to a government. It wouldn't touch the sides of this compensation. And it is an investment that will lead to savings. It's also only got 2 years left so almost all of that £20m was already spent and not by Labour.
You're fine to disagree with foreign aid if you want, but it's got fuck all to do with this. Make a different thread.

I am slightly younger than the age group covered by the WASPI campaign. I knew that my retirement age had risen to 65.
I must have been living under a rock when the 2016 changes came in, or more likely I didn’t pay attention to some of the technicalities.
I thought I knew my situation. I had 39 qualifying years and expected to eventually get a full pension. It later transpired that my contributions had been reassessed due to bring contracted out and I was 6 years short.
Do I think that I should get compensation for not knowing this? Of course not!.
Whenever a pension forecast is requested from DWP it has the caveat that this is the current position but should not be relied upon when making financial plans, as it may change.
The government not only has the right to change pension age it has the responsibility to reduce the increasing burden of the huge costs.
It’s not fair that during my working life my taxes and NI went paying sometimes huge pensions, including dependents benefits, for people who reached State Retirement age much earlier than I will. It is equally unfair for people who are currently expected to work until 67/68 to pay compensation to people who are currently receiving their RP/ due to get it at 66 years.