The idea that these soppy tarts would plan their retirement with no idea of the date when their pension started is clearly ridiculous. Case dismissed
But the case wasn’t dismissed by the Ombudsman. The question is whether the government should respond to that (I think not).
Personally I wouldn't respond. But I'm enjoying watching the mess Liz Kendall and SKS are making of this so would like them to come back with something that will almost certainly prolong the entertainment
The problem is that people misunderstand the state pension. It’s a benefit not a pension like a workplace pension or private pension. National Insurance is just a form of income based tax paid by working people, which is used to pay the benefits bill of the government. So now I am funding more generous state pensions (with the triple love) through my National Insurance than I was thirty years ago. The compliant that people only had 15 years notice of a change in the benefit rules is a bit thin really. If the claim for compensation was agreed, it would be today’s working people paying someone a level of pension, that they themsmsrlves were not funding during their working lives. Because when they were paying National Insurance the pensions paid were far less generous than today. Compared to the infected blood scandal. Or the Post Office scandal, I think the campaign for WASPI compensation is a not justifiable.
Given that the consensus is that these women should not be compensated, where exactly is the **** up?
It stinks. It always has. Back when these women started working they were expected to give up many years of working life to raise children, hence why so many didn't bother to get university education or gave up career progression whereas the men didn't have this issue, and over a lifetime that has huge impacts on income. That's the reason for women getting their pensions earlier and so they bl**dy well should. Yes, life is very different now and equal retirement age is correct, but the way successive governments have handled this is p*ss poor.
It should be funded and treated as a pension. Successive governments have borrowed from pensions to cover everyday spending, banking on an increase in wealth & population will fund the future. It is and always has been an unsustainable idea. When you enter into a contract it's not fair to alter the terms of that contract on a whim so changing the rules years down the line is not on. That being said there was plenty of notice, the argument that a few didn't get letters when it was all over the news for years is weak and any financial detriment could easily be planned for and mitigated in the interim. The government's excuse is that to pay is not affordable, but that's horseshit when you look at the payment decisions they've made recently. It's purely political decision and they're trying to weasel out of the responsibility of making that decision.
What contract has been entered into? Political promises and policies don’t amount to contracts, the law is very clear on that point. If they did, then government could never change any of its policies without paying out compensation first. As you say, plenty of notice was given of the change. And it was hardly a ‘whim’, it was giving effect to equality law (although I take Diamond’s well-made point). I’m confused, you don’t think they should be compensated (para 2), but you do (para 3)? Of course it’s a political decision, why would it be anything else? That doesn’t make it wrong.
There has always been a miscommunication about NI and how it relates to the state pension. Nobody is paying into a pension pot. You are not taking out what you paid in. It has always been a system where the current NI contributors are paying for the current pensioners. There is no contract or entitlement. It is a benefit like any other that just has a calculation based on NI payments including credits for things like claiming child benefit (under 12s). People talk about it like it's a wealth fund. It's not. It's a benefit and subject to change like any other. It is no longer sustainable for the current working generation to pay for people to get their pensions at 60 or even 65 (probably 70 soon enough) when they are expected to live until well into their 80s. That has been a fact and been openly discussed for decades. I only have limited sympathy for the WASPI women because of that. They should have known and planned for it even if the direct communication from the government was lacking.
Surely they've taken responsibility for it? If anything arguably too much responsibility given every link the chain happened under different Tory administrations.
But their husbands had the opportunity to pay additional NI to cover that situation. As a benefit state pension is in a constant flux. Not just the age you get it, but changes on entitlement based on marital status, changes to SERPS. Plus add ons based on your state pension entitlement like supplementary pension, fuel allowances, free bus travel. Personally I think it’s unfair that 60 year old men and women living in Harrow get free bus, train and tube travel. Whereas a mile away in Hertfordshire we get nothing. For seven years until state retirement that’s worth £14K to me.
I agree wholeheartedly, but we are able to buy a senior Railcard at 60 which can be applied to an Oyster card and gives 1/3 off of tube travel, so there's £4.6K back straight away.
Road tax on E-scooters & ( non pedal e-bikes) would be better. The fact that they're illegal to use is pretty much unenforceable so a registration scheme with safety standards and insurance requirement would be a damn fine idea.
Point of order. No such thing as road tax. VED based on emissions. So the VED on e-scooters would unfortunately be nil.
Pint of order Electric (& other zero emission) vehicles pay road tax from April 2025. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vehicle-tax-for-electric-and-low-emissions-vehicles
Once you have the senior railcard, (and I hate that name), you need to get it applied to a physical Oyster card and only use that for the barriers. Any tube ticket office can do that. I did mine at Rickmansworth tube and the guy had to come out and do it via the ticket machine, 2 minutes.
There's still plenty of STING left in the Waspis as this massive demonstration of at least a dozen ladies of a certain age (plus a sprinkling of embarrassed-looking, reluctant, henpecked husbands) in Aberdeen shows. I've been on some pretty lacklustre and dire demos in my time, but this one is the worst by a long way. After opening with a resounding chorus of "PAY ME! PAY ME! Give me some money!", the assembled gaggle of extravagantly behatted Brunhildas and their cowed consorts, launch into a call and response type chant specially written for the occasion. Protestors "I WAS BORN IN 51! - GIVE ME MONEY BY THE TON!" "I WAS BORN IN 52! - CASH FOR ME AND SCREW THE SCHOOL!" "I WAS BORN IN 53! - A LOVELY WINDFALL JUST FOR ME!" "I WAS BORN IN 54! - I'VE GOT LOADS BUT STILL WANT MORE!" and so on. There's a little bit of confusion when it comes to trying the "what do we want?" call and response chant. This works best with single word answers such as "justice" or "freedom", but the ladies are obviously a bit shy of shouting out "CASH!!" as their reply. One or two mumble different things about repealing subsection 35 of the mandated legislation before stumbling to an awkward halt, but we're all back together again to howl the answer of when they want it? "NOOOOO!!!!"
It was 1995 that the government legislated to raise the pension age. That gave plenty of time to plan for the future. Since when did anyone need to receive a personal letter to learn what affects them in budgets etc. Did we get personal letters to inform us that the tax threshold would be frozen for years - thus increasing the tax we pay every year due to inflation - should we all be compensated for that and all other changes in government policy?
I see Kemi Khasi has raised the prospect of means testing the triple lock. The more any part of the "meanest state pension in Europe" is means tested, the more people will be tempted not to make provision for themselves if it just means lower state pension.
Exactly my thoughts! Also Labour's means testing of the winter payments to pensioners has gone down like a lead balloon and she's basically gone "hold my beer". Politically very very stupid.
The state pension is already means tested - it’s called your marginal rate of income tax. Every new born gets a personal income tax allowance. What would be simpler than mucking about with this all the time is to make national insurance payable on all income to your state retirement age rather than on income gained through work. mind you I would scrap National insurance and just increase income tax. The whole concept is as dated as the BBC license fee, as a mechanism to raise revenue.
As a silver surfer I am not going to worry about what any Tory says about anything as I hope and expect to be long gone before they get back into power assuming they even manage to survive as a party
Can you imagine the furore from the hypocrites if a Tory supporter called a black Labour MP "Khemi Khasi" ? Anywho.... First they came for the Waspi woman and no one did anything , eventually they will come for YOU and your pension . As sure as eggs is eggs big business is lobbying MPs about company pensions and how they can be made to be unattractive. The waspi women is the first brick that has been chipped away from the pension wall . Company pensions which the plebs get something for nothing and you can be sure big business will do everything in their power to reduce this overhead . Better that money given to shareholders than the proles Big business their lobbyists MPs and useful idiots will see to this A race to the bottom ? Some of you are demanding it !!!