Pensions ( Waspies)

[Moier]

Quote: 'Did you know when I was 16, the government made an agreement with me, that if I paid National Insurance every week, they would give me a pension when I was 60
I kept my end of the deal and am still paying in!!
On the 5th and 6th of June, the UK Government may be made to give back the right to retire at 60 to all those women who worked and paid their National Insurance.
Currently their pension payout is delayed until 66 or 67 depending on date of birth.
We all know that the pension age for women born in the sixties has been raised. Did you know a campaign called ‘Back to 60 Movement’ has won the right to a Judicial Review and is taking the DWP to the High Court? On the 5th and 6th June they will attempt to get women justice over non consultation in raising the pensionable age to 66 and above.
Michael Mansfield QC will lead the case and the argument for the movement. However, there does not appear to be any media coverage regarding this significant event. That is why we’re raising the awareness now. Let's hope for justice rightly deserved.
There appears to be a media blackout on this issue, which suggests that the government have put a block on the media reporting it. So let’s use social media for what it’s good at - share the hell out of this.

Because when pensions started the life expectancy at retirement was not the same as is it today.

People are healthier and live longer

OK - so the government could fork out a mere 3.5 billion (lowest level) plus the Winter Fuel payment/Free TV license.
Public money WILL be spent on both runways:- https://hacan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Briefing-What-a-third-runway-at-Heathrow-will-cost-the-taxpayer.pdf
Public money IS being spent on HS2, Sizewell C, Hinkley etc etc etc
People matter more than projects.

I'm sick of hearing about this. I'm nearly 62, I've got over my full SP years in and I left school (and university) with the belief I'd be getting it at 60, like millions of others. Having said which, it was always on the cards that it was going to even up with men (rightly) and the rise to 67 and then 68 wasn't entirely unexpected, given changes in life expectancy and the generally parlous longterm state of the economy. How much notice would actually have been reasonable over that given, which was a minimum of 15 years? The very oldest of the Waspi women would have been 45 in '95, hardly on the verge of old age.

I knew from 1995 what was happening, it was widely publicised even without DWP letters and frankly, you'd have had to be living under a rock on Mars not to know about it. I've got more sympathy with younger generations than mine who will probably be working until 70+ with a SP entitlement of decreasing value in real terms.

Infrastructure is vital for the country, it grows the economy that then helps pay for TV licences and winter fuel payments.
Adding back both of those will cost about 1.5bn . We have gone from only a billion to a minimum of 4.5bn a year.

I’m almost 60 and when I started work in the 80s I believed I would get my state pension at 60. Even then I didn’t think it was fair that women got a state pension earlier than men. If we truly want equality then it should be the same for both sexes.

Things have moved on and as I approach 60 I find it incomprehensible that I could have been eligible for a state pension at this age. It’s too young nowadays.

I have 3 friends who are Waspi women. All freely admit that they were aware of the pension age changing but still feel hard done by even though they don’t need the money.

I can’t believe people are genuinely arguing that free TV licence and a winter cash injection based on age alone and not need is more valid than infrastructure projects.

@Sofiewoo Not based on age alone - based on the "maladministration" (Ombudsman's words) by the DWP.

@jan2310 Equality is great - most of us want that, however men tended not (in those days) to take 5 years out of the workplace to raise a child to school age thereby missing 5 years of paying in NI. Your three friends could just opt out or give their compensation to a charity? The PHSO's report SHOWS exactly how most women were not given fair warning.I didn't receive a letter and did not own a TV either. The compensation advised by the PHSO is for the DWP "maladministration" and they have apologised for their "failure."

@Thisiswhathings "There cannot be infinite growth on a finite planet" - an economist's words. And pity the people who live near these airports and the brain cancer risk in these areas:- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9718356/#:~:text=Malignant%20brain%20cancer%20risk%20in,area%20surrounding%20the%20LAX%20airport.
There ARE some things worse than 'slow growth.'

I've got my Teachers Pension from 60 but I have to supplement it until I'm 67.

I guess those that have the hand out growth and paying for it is someone else's problem.

@Thisiswhathings We HAVE paid for it dear. Looking after big businesses whilst further impoverishing ordinary citizens (formerly a Tory thing but now endorsed by Labour) isn't helpful to the people who are struggling. There have never been so many homeless, food banks etc as now. The UK has a high number of millionaires and billionaires who pay no or very little tax and say they would happily do so. Why begrudge a certain group of old people such a relatively small bit of compensation?

You haven’t paid for it. Waspie’s are a net drain on the country.
There’s plenty of evidence to back that up.

@Sofiewoo We've been paying tax since we left school. Everyone pays tax of some sort even if they're not in work - VAT for example.
Following your logic all old and disabled people are a drain on the country but even they are still paying into a system that is meant to support and protect them.

I'm actually quite annoyed that my friend who is 6 months older than me can retire a whole year before me due to the pension age rise in the 2010s!

Your arguments are illogical. I didn’t mention disabled people, I’m just contradicting your incorrect statement that waspies have “paid for it”.
Everyone pays tax of some sort, and? Not sure how that’s remotely relevant here.

Paid for what ? Pensions ? RuNwAys ?

3.5 billion is nothing compared to the state pension bill of over £100billion a year. Infrastructure spending will bring large returns to the taxpayer. Pensions won’t.

There’s no issue with missing NI contributions when taking time out to look after children- state pension credits are paid until the oldest child is 12.

Please give links to the "publicly available" information.
It appears you've missed some of my previous posts that substantiate inadequate/no communication of increase to the SPA.

@User46576 London is already up there with the most polluted cities in the world with aviation emissions being a leading cause of deaths. More runways = more pollution. More infrastructure is in many cases a very bad thing. We need clean air to live - we can't breathe money. Most government infrastructure projects massively exceed their initial budgets too and the tax payer is lumped with plugging the hole.

@Batullah do you understand how to post? Bolding half of your text makes it look like you’re trying to write a response to something you’re quoting but it’s all your message. It’s very strange.

Anyway, pay for your own TV licence and energy bills like everyone younger than you is currently doing.

@Sofiewoo I don't know why it does that either but I can't seem to change it - maybe the app isn't MAC-friendly. Whilst I am a WASPI, I'm also an activist for a number of other injustices - we won one yesterday (Cranswick/Norfolk) but quite a few international injustices too on behalf of Amnesty, Reprieve etc etc...
In suggesting the free TV license I am merely mentioning different ways the government could appear to make a 'gesture'. I don't have a TV (or mobile phone) myself. Anyway all MPs were unanimous on the bill's first reading on 7th March with all 105 in favour of the compensation proposal.

If it's 3.5 million women at £1000 each, then it is a lot more than £1 billion.

@Brahumbug Granted maths isn't my strong point but if you just take the PHSO's recommended level 4, and at IT'S lowest level, it's around the £3bn mark, and NOT the £10bn quoted by Starmer? I'm pretty sure someone else pasted the exact amount yesterday.