No payout for WASPI women

[ErrolTheDragon]

Fury as women hit by pension age rise denied payouts www.bbc.com/news/articles/czr36842nd6o

Wow... it hadn't occurred to me that the ombudsman report on this would just be ignored.

@PronounssheRa

"It may not have been in the manifesto, but there are lots of examples of Labour MPs supporting WASPI women publicly so people would have taken from that that they wouldn't be shafted when Labour came to government."

Meanwhile the Tories shafted everyone for a whole14 fucking long years. They caused the situation (please do try and remember that). There are also lots of examples of Tory back benchers being very vocal in their support for WASPI women. If you think they'd have paid compensation to anyone, even the sub-postmasters whose lives were actually annihilated, you are deluded.

The Tories didn’t compensate because Cameron was responsible for the second change which deprived me of an extra three years of pension with virtually no notice. The “compensation” was £3k, the delay cost me around £15-20k and associated benefits so I’m not going to cry over it. It’s in the past and I moved on years ago.

I never said otherwise, I just reject the notion that we can ONLY talk about the current government, that's unrealistic and frankly daft.

I'm a WASPI but, to be honest, never expected to receive any payout anyway.

In fairness though, I am in a very comfortable position and would rather my share was paid out to the sub postmasters and the blood transfusion sufferers. 😥. Both sets of people are way more important than me for sure although I totally respect not all WASPI women will be in the same position.

Is it true that people in London get transport perks at 60? I read it somewhere today.

"Revenge policies" about sums it up

Yes you can get a 60+ oyster card. Free travel subject to some time restrictions

Is it true that people in London get transport perks at 60? I read it somewhere today.

It was 60 but in line with increase in pension age it is now 66.

https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedom-pass

Until recently, it was also Bristol and their scheme is reciprocal with London! I discovered this when I went into London to meet a friend from Bristol who was staying with family and who was surprised that she had free travel there.

ETA: see PP with whom I xd about Freedom Pass. However, Oyster scheme is separate and applies for 60+ who aren't eligible for a Freedom Pass.

https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedom-pass/tfl-60-london-oyster-photocard

Yes they did, Starmer gave a statement on it backing their campaign and lots of Labour MPs photographed suppprting during the campaign around 2019/2020

Not very consistent

No, you can still get the 60+ Oyster, it's the Freedom Pass you no longer get at 60.

That's the freedom pass. I think the 60+ oyster card was introduced when the age limit for the freedom pass was increased

I'm not sure it's revenge but it's a demographic that doesn't vote labour, there's no real vote loss. They don't vote labour in the first place. Governments support their core vote. Torys kept triple lock a huge majority of pensioners vote Tory to do otherwise would be political suicide.

Except that's wrong, Labour assume they don't therefore they are easy targets. When in fact many probably do/did.

I think what I find really overt, if not grating, is that this is choice of who gets compensated, and / or pay rises. It is another indication of Labour not behaving with equality to all.

For instance Birmingham or other councils that under paid women for years weren't allowed to say, well we just cant afford to pay the amount awarded.

And Labour using an excuse which again is only applied when they think one group of people arent as important as others. ie its not fair on tax payers. Given that logic the Government could easily FU on any number of things, be found to be at fault, and then just shrug and say not fair on taxpayers.

Kendall accepted the findings of the ombudsman, in a report earlier this year, that her department failed to communicate the change adequately.

But she rejected its recommendation for a flat-rate compensation scheme, paying out £1,000 to £2,950 to the more than 3 million women affected.

“Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5bn would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers,” Kendall told MPs.

Kendall agreed with the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration over the DWP’s tardiness in writing to affected individuals but she claimed the letters in themselves, “aren’t as significant as the ombudsman says”.

Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Labour included compensating the Waspi women in its 2017 and 2019 manifestos. When that point was raised with Kendall in the Commons, she said that her party had lost both of those elections.

So not only are they using taxpayer's rights first, they are now implying the compensation wasn't popular with voters as Corbyn lost the election (although got more votes than Starmer).

It's not wrong. In the last GE of the over 70s only 20% voted Labour, I wouldn't call that core vote.

The triple lock isn't about Labour or Tory, nor is taking decisions about pensions based on which age group votes for you.

That's just nonsense.

The Triple Lock is a committment by Parliament to bring UK pensions more in line with other European countries, because at one time we were the worse, or nearly the worst. I think know we are somewhere in the middle.

Yes, I am one of the women who was affected. I really don’t understand how these women could not have known what was coming. I don’t think the country can afford the 10 billion it would cost in compensation.

I'm 69, a WASPI and a natural labour voter (although I couldn't vote for my ridiculous Labour candidate at the last election). I never expected any compensation, and couldn't see how any government would have paid it. The state pension is funded by people who work now through their NI contributions. It's not something we earn through our own contributions. So there are going to have to be changes due to the decrease in the working population compared to the retired population. This was one of them. It was badly handled by the previous government and the DWP, but then nothing was handled particularly well by them, and it's not up to this government to right every wrong that was committed. I don't think it's because we are old and female, I think it's because it really isn't a cause for compensation. I know some people will disagree though.

The triple lock is a Tory bribe to its core voters. It’s completely disingenuous to say anything else. I expect it will be the next thing to go.

The triple lock is a Tory bribe to its core voters. It’s completely disingenuous to say anything else. I expect it will be the next thing to go.

Historically this isn't true. It was as a result of a campaign by poverty groups, which in the end was sucessful as the level of pensions at the time was a national embarrassment.

Just because it was passed at a time Tories were in power is irrelevant. It had cross party support.

It is just this sort of facile got you arguement that means nobody discusses politics properly anymore.

If you dont understand the process behind change you cant really comment.

But what is even more disturbing is how few current MPs and Ministers are in fact ignorant of the history of how change has happened in the UK.

Cant wait for an equally facile explanation as to why the Abortion law was passed.

Agree with this - I also think the shifting demographics is a real problem people are just kicking down the road, especially how it will affect public services going forward. I do worry that a lot of public services and a benefits (NHS, state pension) is just going to crumble during my lifetime and not be available for my kids as it was all only made possible by the quirk of the population bulge of the boomer gen.

My mother is one of the oldest WASPI and she has never expected it to be paid either.

That said, it wont end here because as a PP have said if the government can just ignore the ombudsman, which is supposed to be the final decision maker, then it undermines the whole system. If they can do that then British gas (say) can ignore that industry's ombudsman using this as their precedent.

This is excellent news. I really did think Labour would take the path of least resistance and pay up, and am so glad they've taken a principled stand. As a current (and struggling) taxpayer the, idea that I should pay out for people who couldn't keep themselves informed and plan properly, when I won't get my own pension until god knows when, is obscene.

First they took the WFH payment away from Alan Sugar and Mick Jagger, now they've done this. I'm a big fan of how this government is shaping up and am more pleased each day that I voted for them.

Triple lock next please.

In fact, just checking my "facts" the pension became so terrible because it was Thatcher who ended the pension link to earnings in 1980. And the fall was dramatic in the following years.

So an agreed calculation method was brought in to link pension increase to cost of living increases. ie not making it a political football.

I dont think it isn't possible to look at another mechanism for the increase calculation which is based on figures for a pariticular month in the year, which could be vastly unrepresentative of the year as a whole.

The increase in social housing rents is also based on a particular month in a year, rather than the average for a year which means, sometimes rent increases are too high, and other years to low. (Based on social housing providers getting enough rent to carry out their work - but that is a whole other story)