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 😖😖😖😖

I don’t ever understand parents who allow access between such truly awful sounding people to their children simply because the kids love “em!!!

Children love lots of things that we are parent know should be limited or even prohibited

The campaign is nothing to do with pension age it concerns the lack/absence of notice some were given about the changes. The ombudsman agreed that the government at that time did not adequately inform women of the changes.

I genuinely can't think of any tax or spending change ever for which more notice was given or greater pains taken to notify affected parties. Certainly people affected by all subsequent pension changes got a lot less.

Governments can and must make fiscal decisions which disadvantage groups of people or a country just cannot run. When Osborne reformed the Stamp Duty thresholds he only gave a few hours notice and many people lost many thousands of pounds as chains collapsed. But there was no suggestion of compensation because it would be preposterous to compensate everyone affected adversely by a Budget.

The High Court has already determined that the government did nothing wrong and no remedy is owed. The WASPI movement has decided to have another go in court which I think will prove unfortunate and just involve throwing away yet more of their supporters' money but we'll see.

Okay, let's say we accept all that. Now explain to me why a woman born in February 1960 was subjected to it but a woman born in February 1960 wasn't.

I'm with your MIL.
I'm a waspi who waited 6 years longer than originally planned for my pension. I am appalled by this, can these campaigners not read the room?

I would just say in defence that I received no letters (and have not moved house for 40 years) so I assume others who say they had no letters are correct. Also there was no internet. Information was not as readily available.
Nevertheless by the time I was in my early 50s it was well known and I was aware that my pension would come at 66 instead of 60. Although I do remember a colleague who was approaching 60 and had no idea.

I would far rather the money went almost anywhere else

I'm sure there are plenty of workshy boomers too. Most demographics will have their fair share.

Food banks weren't needed until the austerity policies of the Coalition Government kicked in. They aren't something to be proud of but they were necessary when the welfare state was cut to ribbons.

Correction:
Okay, let's say we accept all that. Now explain to me why a woman born in February 1960 was subjected to it but a woman born in May 1960 wasn't.

I presume that it comes out of the foreign aid budget and it will be used to train tax collecters in order to maximise Ethiopia's tax revenue which will make them less reliant on foreign aid.

Obviously the Tax Dodgers Payers Alliance disapproves because they hate foreign aid and they hate anyone paying tax.

The ombudsman ruled that the Department of Works and Pensions AKA the government, failed to properly inform women of a 19050s cohort, of changes to their state pension age.

That ruling actually happened, so I disagree with your personal anecdotal evidence.

I love 'Trussterfuck' (but I have given it a double 's').

I fall into the Waspi demographic and I don't think we should get compensation.

I hope they don’t give into this crowd who do women no favours. I fit into the cohort but of course I knew the age limit was going up.
I do not understand this government. They keep saying we are short of billions but still think of more ways to spend money.

The PHSO doesn't make rulings. It makes decisions and issues recommendations and these have about the same significance as the outcome of a Twitter poll. The government has also comprehensively rebutted the PHSO recommendation in relation to the WASPIs and, frankly, the PHSO's recommendation was utterly flimsy and not borne out by its own evidence.

Only a court or tribunal can order redress and the courts have so far ruled in the government's favour. The High Court ruling of 2019 also actually happened but the difference is it also actually matters.

I also genuinely don't know what personal anecdotal evidence you think I provided.

I know I find it interesting that none in favour of the compensation is addressing this point. Qt least not till this point.

Food banks have always been needed. The expectations and priorities have changed through the decades. Poverty in the 60s and 70s was having holes in your shoes and women having to stay in unhappy and abusive marriages because as most were SAHMs, due to lack of childcare facilities, they had no benefit safety net or CMS, they were basically trapped. Now, people think they’re in poverty if they can’t afford to go out for a meal, can’t afford to run a car, can’t afford a holiday, can’t afford broadband or the latest mobile phone. I think people just don’t appreciate how much help is out there now, when they didn’t used to be any.

Tbh, it’s all relative isn’t it? People are living longer, and by the time today’s generation reach their 60s the expected age for people to live to will also have gone up, so whilst the age of retirement might raise to 70+, they will probably be expected to live longer, so will presumably enjoy the same amount of years post retirement as today’s pensioners

Didn't he also say that despite this, 73% knew of the change?

Published research, which is referenced by the Ombudsman in their report, also shows that 73% of women aged 45-54 said that they were aware of State Pension age increases in 2004. By 2006, 90% of 1950s-born women knew about State Pension age changes

So even if compensation is due, it shouldn't go to those that did know.

I clearly remember it being a major news story - I mean, reported on and discussed over weeks and then months - in the mid-nineties, when my major concern in life was my A-levels, not pensions. Your friend and all these other women are trying it on.

Depends from where you are measuring. Life expectancy hasn't moved much in decades, and isn't expected to any time soon.

Did she consider getting a job once she realised the state pension wouldn't start until five years later?

I just don't understand what people think they are owed.

I thought it had gone down a bit - I'm sure the last time I looked mine was lower than my mum's.

The WASPI campaign always seems to me to be badly misdirected. Lots of women of that age worked in the public sector and have final salary workplace pensions that subsequently closed to younger workers. Those women are comparatively much better off than the women coming up behind them who will have a higher state pension age and less favourable workplace pensions. I can't see the argument for giving them extra compensation for pension changes that were very widely publicised. Granted, many women of that age will have worked in low-paid jobs without good workplace pension schemes. I have every sympathy for those women. But even if they'd had extra notice of the raising of the state pension age, they wouldn't have been able to save extra for a pension to compensate.

If the WASPI campaign was for all low-paid workers (women and men, of all ages) to receive an extra payment to compensate for years in vital but low-paid work where they only just managed to get by, then I'd be right with them. But to ask for it for a group which includes women receiving a much better deal than those who are funding it (current taxpayers including those on low incomes) seems to be taking the piss.

I'm in my 60s if that's relevant. I know what it's like to work in low-paid jobs and I know that some people simply can't put extra money aside for pensions.

Yes. And to be honest I have very little sympathy for some of the stories the WASPI women put out in the papers. There was one about a woman who quit her job early assuming her pension would be ready for her, went to apply for it and was told it was several years away... I am meant to feel sympathy for this case but who quits their job without even once calling up the pension office to check everything's in order? The lack of knowledge feels almost deliberately negligent.

Absolutely obscene given the child poverty rates.

I completely agree. As I said earlier, I have no interest in the money but I would like an acknowledgment that the 2011 changes were a complete fuck up, particularly affecting a specific cohort of around 300k early 50s born women. I’d prefer to see the money spent on lifting the two child benefit cap.