Waspi women

Have just watched JC being interviewed by Andrew Neil. I received my state pension when I was nearly 63. Would I get compensation for not receiving it at 60? I obviously don’t get the new state pension amount as mine paid out earlier.

Born in 1953. Does it affect me? And won’t in all get buried whoever gets in?

Thanks Callistemon

Yes that's true. I do think though that this current incarnation of Labour care so much more about issues that affect ordinary people than we have seen in a political party for a very very long time and this gives me reason to trust that will keep their promises, given the opportunity.

I also think most people have no idea just how much money is being siphoned upwards and out of this country into offshore bank accounts / tax havens etc that, if actually collected in tax revenues as it always should have been, could be making so much difference!

I recently read about multi-billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos planning to donate $98.5 million to homeless charities. This sounds amazing until you realise that, based on his net worth, he earns that amount of money in just 11 hours. Yes, 11 hours. I was utterly gobsmacked by this. (It has all been worked out properly). Amazon workers are treated like robots and paid peanuts. Amazon pay barely any tax on their UK profits (same goes for Google, Starbucks, etc, etc of course!) and their business model is contributing to the collapse of so many beloved high street businesses who actually were paying their way.

It's all such a shocking mess! We need a government with a whole new approach - we simply can't carry on the way we are.

(Sorry for the rant - you can probably tell I feel rather strongly about it all!)

middleagespread I'm afraid you will be affected. I've added a link HERE for more information from the official WASPI website.

I have just checked the official figures for both old and new basic state pension rates.
The old rate requiring 39 years of NI contribution is £125 per week. The new weekly pension Rate from 2016 is £168 per week with a much shorter contribution period. So while I understand it’s disappointing to have a delay, if I understand correctly, those retiring from 2016 will be getting the higher rate and £43 per week extra is a substantial difference.
It looks like the old rate will not be increased to match the new so we now have a two tier system running and those like me who retired before 2016 will continue to trail behind. This hardly,if ever, gets a mention in the media.

That’s true silverlining we who retired earlier do miss out moneywise, perhaps the WASPI women can comfort themselves a little that they will receive a better pension when they actually do get it.

silferlining thank you for that; I was trying to do some rough calculations on the difference, just on my own pension, earlier today (see my posts upthread).

Should we be compensated? Should we start a campaign?

MaryMack I am amazed at your post about Jeff Bezos donating millions to homeless charities! Perhaps his conscience has been pricked just slightly because I thought he was fighting his ex-wife about alimony.
Didn't she go to court for a higher settlement from him and he fought it because she wanted to donate a lot of it to charity?

silverlining
Sorry (sp)

Just to say that Jeremy Corby was torn to shreds tonight by Andrew Neil and could not say where the 60 billion for waspi women was coming from except 'government reserves' which are nowhere near that amount. So don't expect the promised help from Labour unless they borrow and bankrupt us again.

Thanks for clearing that up for us Mr Neil.

silverlining we/they will trail behind. The amount paid as basic on the new pension is equalled to the same basic amount on the old one plus the equivalent to the Pension Credit. The idea is that the Pension Credit is phased out. I don't know what happens now to the gateway benefits that came with the Pension Credit automatically. If people have to claim them there is bound to be under-claiming.

Would it not have been simpler to have moved everyone on to the new rate of pension?

There is a lot under-claimed at the moment, particularly by pensioners.

I know Callistemon. But the people getting the higher amount are paying for it by working longer. Also the way the "basic" is calculated seems to have changed slightly. I think they should use pensioners as a trial for basic income - one which includes the basic amount of the old pension, Pension credit, and the additional benefits plus whatever it takes to make it possible to live on. A citizens pension of £12,500 should do it. I just can't but think there would be huge savings in both a cut in administration and better health, etc., for the poorer part of society. You could tax it back gradually from higher incomes down to middle incomes.

It seems so simple.

I can only reiterate that many of us not only have to wait an extra 6 years for our pension, but will only get the old rate when we do get there. Less than 50% of us will receive the new pension rate. Seeing as we have also missed out on 6 years of the free bus pass (I pay out at least £10 a week in fares, sometimes much more) and fuel allowance, I wouldn't waste time envying us.

www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/pension-state-dwp-income-retirement-money-women-a9203726.html

You have the option to make up NI. contributions, though.

And, in ant event, pension credit will top up a shortfall, won't it? .

Besides which, PC may well entitle a claimant to extra benefits too. May be worth a Google.

Brilliant idea GracesGranMK3!

I view this as a cynical move to grab votes. Most women would have known in 1995 that there was a move to equalising the pension. This was to be phased in over time. 2011 changed the goal posts. This to recognise the inequality between men and women. I would ask how could it be done better some transition was required.

I’m just trying (obviously not very well) to make the point that those retiring under the new scheme with its supposedly higher weekly pension aren’t necessarily better off than those who retired earlier on the lower amount, but thank you anyway.

Sorry, that was to oldgimmer1.

There’s an interesting poll on the MSE site, showing what people think about the proposed compensation.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/poll/26-11-2019/should-1950s-waspi-women-be-compensated-

@maggiemaybe:

Apologies - I must be spectacularly thick today.

I'm going to return to that link later.

Nope, it's me, oldgimmer. I was replying to comments that posters had made earlier about us young 'uns () being better off, and should have explained that at the start. I'm not a regular in News & Politics - probably just as well!

I thought that the new rate was introduced in 2016, Maggiemaybe

So some of you have had a 'double whammy'?
That is definitely not fair.

It was 2016, Callistemon. But at the same time the rules changed so that any years we'd previously worked and been opted out (so paid a slightly lower rate of NI) wouldn't count towards the basic state pension. Before that date opting out had just affected the extra SERPS element. It's a minefield really.

It certainly is, some women do seem to have fallen into a trap between the two systems.

It is possible to pay voluntary contributions (if you can afford them) so that you will get the full pension after being opted out.

I am doing this, but (a) they are expensive, and (b) there is no guarantee that the government won't move the goalposts yet again before the current date falls due.