WASPIs' Ten Thousand payment

I’ve done the sums on this. Had I receive my pension at 60 at the “old” basic rate I would have received a total of £39,058 over that six years. Instead I receive the new state pension which is £47.85 pw more than the basic pension.

Dividing one number by the other gives 820. That is the number of weeks at the higher rate that it will take to make up the six years loss pension - almost 16 years.

If I were to factor in income I might have generated on that £39,058, the loss is even higher.

Yes, the big earnings-linked triple-lock rises we have seen over the last two years have accentuated the gap between the two rates of pension and even a smaller triple lock rise will add to that - so the loss will be made up in less that 15 years but not by very much.

Life expectancy for women is 83 years now but is dropping. If I do live say 15 years beyond 66 I will break even. This was probably all part of the actuarial sums which informed the rate of the new state pension but in the short to medium term, overall, I am worse off.

I am very grateful that my life in the UK is such that I don't feel I have to risk my life crossing water to seek asylum . Of course we need a more robust and quicker process but for those supporting the " rubber dingy " comment , how exactly would you fix this problem in a humane way .

Totally agree @growstuff , you can't complain there isn't enough funding for services if you are advocating cheating the system. It's not clawing back, it's fraud .

Brahumbug

The whole point of the new pension was to reduce the cost to the government. Under the old pension you could receive up to £360 a week if you had the maximum SERPS, S2P. Under the new pension £203 a week is the maximum you can achieve. Most people don't even qualify for that.

@Brahumbug Yes that is totally correct that is why it was changed to a flat rate pension however £203.85 is not the maximum some people get more - I do, that is because people were giving a starting amount in 2016 based on two calculations what they would have got under the old rules and what they would have under the new, as I would have had a higher pension under the old rules I kept that amount, but couldn't increase it further

Yes, you are right about some getting more under the transitional rules. What I meant, but phrased badly, was that the pension of future retirees will be restricted to the new maximum, with no chance to improve it.

The time i realised about my state pension my husband had just passed away with leukemia and I was enquiring about widows pension to be told I would not be receiving anything till 2019 as there had been changes to the state pension which I knew nothing about and received no letter , I had been a carer for my mother since 2009 my mum died 2013 , my husband was diagnosed with leukaemia 2012 so I went on to be my husbands carer till he died 2014 I received the death grant for a year then received nothing till 2019 , I had some inheritance from my mum which I used to live on till November 2019 I sold our bungalow and now live in a park home for over 50s they told me my forecast state pension was going to be about £135 a week and I would get nothing from my husbands pension because of the changes so I decided to sell up , I was so upset and beside myself when I asked them what I should do the words was you will have to go out and get a job like everyone else has had to do , couldn’t believe this answer after I had just lost my husband. So very angry and also very upset people that have not been involved in this have no idea what we have been through. Diane

Diane54 am sorry for your loss 💐
Yes some people have no empathy and can appreciate the pain and shock of those comments at the time..

I haven't received a letter either.
I'm wondering IF it should come to pass and we do finally get this money owed to us....do we have to apply....and where to..
Iv searched without success online but perhaps I'm not looking in the right place.

I was born in late March 1960, so I just about am a Waspi women. I knew about the rise to 63 but was only told about 66 when discussing with a friend in about 2014. My jaw dropped!

I had not received any letters about the SPA increasing. I had applied for a forecast a couple of times.

'Save my taxes 'tells you what you need to have too apply for the payout for WASPI women. I am not going to bother to apply . It's not worth it for all the information they need. I haven't got some of the documents they need as I had a massive clear out when I moved house. Took me 35 years to get disability benefits and that was only because I went to PIP tribunal last year with the help of the Brain Charity who got me a solicitor pro bono.

Save my taxes 'tells you what you need to have too apply for the payout for WASPI women Whiff

Not sure how this can be correct as no compensation scheme has been agreed. I have noticed some ‘ads’ online stating ‘claim your WASPI compensation here’ - they are scams and to be avoided.

We WASPI women may never get compensation, despite the ombudsman’s recommendations. However, if we do the best place to go for reliable information is the WASPI website.

WASPI official website link:

www.waspi.co.uk

It's never going to happen. They will give our money away to other more vote catching beneficiaries. They are just going to keep delaying until we are all dead and gone.

Nobody cares about us. The Labour Government clearly don’t either as they prefer spending billions on people whohave never paid a penny into this country or worked a single day.

So much for”a new broom”, yet when they were in opposition all they did was tell women to vote Labour and they would sort the pension problem. Indeed WASPI was Labour led.

yet when they were in opposition all they did was tell women to vote Labour and they would sort the pension problem. Indeed WASPI was Labour led

Really Primrose? Do you have sources for these claims?

Sorry didn't realise it was a scam.

Who lost out, who knew what and when is now irrelevant. The ombudsman has ruled that things were not done properly and that women should be compensated. It is a disgrace that we are still waiting.

No worries Whiff

Primrose53

Nobody cares about us. The Labour Government clearly don’t either as they prefer spending billions on people whohave never paid a penny into this country or worked a single day.

So much for”a new broom”, yet when they were in opposition all they did was tell women to vote Labour and they would sort the pension problem. Indeed WASPI was Labour led.

Labour (or Conservative) have never agreed to compensation

WASPI was Labour led. Not true.

Pension equalisation was a 1978 EU Directive. We were a member state. Member states were allowed to set their own timescales for introducing equalisation. Tories came to power the following year in 1979. Thatcher’s governments did nothing to implement the directive.

John Major’s government introduced the Pensions Act 1995 which legislated for equalisation. Its implementation spanned the Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron administrations with the usual revolving door for Secretary of State for Work and Pension (formerly Social Security for both parties. Between 1995 and 2016 we had twelve and repeated failures to got to grips with the DWP maladminstration which the Parliamentary Ombudsman so clearly describes in his report published three years ago. Both parties are to blame but it was the Tory government which refused to consider compensation despite there being a very large excess of funds in the National Insurance Fund (NIF).

In 2022-23, the minimum working balance required in the NIF was 19.4 billion. By year end, there was 72.4 billion in the fund. The surplus was expected to increase by 31 March 2024.

Report 7 December 2023.

The minimum working balance for 2022 to 2023 was estimated at £19.4 billion, being 16.7% of estimated benefit expenditure, as stated in the report on the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order published by GAD in January 2023. HM Treasury Ministers made provision for a Treasury Grant for 2022 to 2023 of up to 17% estimated benefit payments. The balance of the Fund at 31 March 2023 was £72.7 billion and was above the estimated minimum requirement throughout the year. No Treasury Grant was therefore required in 2022 to 2023.

The report on the Up-rating Order published by GAD in January 2023 projected an increase in the balance of the Fund in the year ended 31 March 2024. It also projected that no Treasury Grant is likely to be required in that year in order to maintain the Fund above the targeted minimum balance of 16.7% of benefit expenditure.

WASPI wasn’t Labour led. It has been a failure of both parties legislatively and administratively, but it was the Tories who had the power to compensate following the Ombudsman report but chose not to. SNP's Mhairi Black, who spoke often and eloquently for WASPIs described it as austerity of choice.

Lib Dems have now tabled an EDM to try to have this debated. I'm hoping that Liz Kendall will take note. There are other pressuing measures e.g. removing the two-child cap on child benefits but important to note that the NIF is ring-fenced. Receipts paid into the NIF are kept separate from all other revenue raised by national taxes and are used only to pay social security benefits such as contributory benefits and the State Pension. It could be argued that compensation would not technically be state pension so couldn't be paid from NIF. We shall see.

Starmer and the Reeves woman have stabbed the waspi woman in the back, there will be no compensation for them. They kept the waspi women hanging on to get labour votes. It is in the papers this evening

I never received a letter. Read about it in the press.

I didn't know about waspi until a few years when an older friend mentioned I was born in 1959 I haven't done anything about it but could I be entitled too

It was never going to happen.
I do sympathise with those that lost out. But I did get a letter, and it was in the Press. I can't understand why some of us did get letters , others didn't.

I am surprised that some people got letters about the increase in pension age. I never got a letter. I did remember seeing news about this in the 1990s and searched for more details when approaching 60 to confirm my pension date.
I was widowed in my 50s and also did not realise until then that the widows pension had been abolished.
I do not believe that waspi women will get any compensation.

I totally agree on that , however although I was aware of this myself , I cannot honestly say that I was in receipt of a DWP letter .
Personally, my SP age went from 60 - 63
.What is an issue for me & thousands of WASPI Women is the difference in DWP SP my first payment of SP was 8/04/16 .
If my dob had been after 1/04/16 the payment would be at least £200 more .
How is that fair ? I know there has to be a cut off date ie a deadline etc etc .
I have no idea of the equations in the disparity of these amounts would work out but it needs sorting ! !
I get that it is a benefit , I feel aggrieved by the fact having worked for the large majority of my life ( not early child rearing years ) I get less than my Sister / others who have never worked !!!!
How is that fair …