UK Politics #10

1
Pensioners on the basic SRP will get most of their rent and Council Tax paid anyway through Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction. So £221.20 per week seems a reasonable amount for a single pensioner to live on, especially when you consider the single person rate of UC for an under 25 year old is about £72 per week, or £91 per week if aged over 25.
The difference is that pensioners have paid in all their lives.
---
While we are talking about lived experience..after my mother died of cancer I was presented with a bill for £12,000 by the care home where my father was suffering from Parkinsons and the associated dementia. He lived another 2 years.
My parents were both 64 when they died. They always worked and paid in all their lives. They saved hard but were never well off.
---
I disagree with this part of your comment personally.
They were always expected to retire at 60 and thus made financial plans accordingly. This is a cohort of women who were disadvantaged in the workplace already due to the era they were born (many women weren’t allowed to join company pension schemes until the 90s, etc). Women face unique obstacles to building pensions compared to men and have done for decades - they often take time out to have children and look after them, they are the ones who often taken on the burden of being unpaid carers to ill relatives, and on average women outlive men.
The changes were brought in and they didn’t adequately inform women - the government didn’t write to any woman affected by the rise for nearly 14 years after the law was passed in 1995. It was not until 2009 to 2013 that the DWP sent people letters about the 1995 and 2011 changes. And in 2011 the government sped up the pension reforms.
Whilst I understand that the government has hardly any money I think it’s unfair that Kier Starmer and Rachel Reeves supported these women when they were in the opposition yet changed their minds when they got into power. I was the year when the university fees just for England went up and I remember so many of my cohort voting for Lib Dems especially when Nick Clegg signed that he would not raise tuition fees. Seeing him and others then vote to raise the fees felt like a slap in the face and was very disheartening.
Thank you for this post. I was going to say the same, although probably not so well. Many women who had to take lower paid jobs due to raising children did not have the resources to save and any employee pension contributions were reduced.
Also women can continue working past pension age now but at that time you were forced to retire at pension age so had no chance of making up the shortfall.
I suggest the OP reads up on the subject before making throwaway comments.
 
Last edited:
Every singer older person I know that receives good care has it because they have younger family members who fought tooth and nail for them. They often had to battle for years and navigate mountains of red tape to get anywhere. It makes me really sad for vulnerable people who have nobody to fight their corner.
 
I suggest the OP reads up on the subject before making throwaway comments.

It wasn't a throwaway comment. I also said it for brevity because I was responding to something about priorities for compensation, not about the WASPI compensation claim per se.

Many people have been affected by pension changes over the past few years, not just WASPI. People have been dealing with increased pension ages from 66 and 67 and changes in terms of services like the police, who went from 30 years to 40 years or teachers. It happens and realistically you should be prepared for that.

I am terrible about things like pensions. It's only because my husband is tit hot with all of that I have any idea what's happening. I would more than likely have been a WASPI but it would have been my own fault.
 
I am terrible about things like pensions. It's only because my husband is tit hot with all of that I have any idea what's happening. I would more than likely have been a WASPI but it would have been my own fault.
This is exactly why compensating them would set a bit of a dangerous precedent imo

“Oh no I missed all of the news about this issue and now I lost money :( please compensate me”

Hence I don’t see any government making a payout even a small one
 
This is exactly why compensating them would set a bit of a dangerous precedent imo

“Oh no I missed all of the news about this issue and now I lost money :( please compensate me”

Hence I don’t see any government making a payout even a small one

TBH whenever I see articles about pensions in the paper or TV I generally switch off, so yeah, I'd have been caught out. It always went in the too complicated/confusing category.

I think the younger generation are a bit more engaged. Back in the day there were a lot of jobs that came with a pension which is just not the case now so they have to work it out. However I do think some will leave it too late because they need the extra money now.
 
It wasn't a throwaway comment. I also said it for brevity because I was responding to something about priorities for compensation, not about the WASPI compensation claim per se.

Many people have been affected by pension changes over the past few years, not just WASPI. People have been dealing with increased pension ages from 66 and 67 and changes in terms of services like the police, who went from 30 years to 40 years or teachers. It happens and realistically you should be prepared for that.

I am terrible about things like pensions. It's only because my husband is tit hot with all of that I have any idea what's happening. I would more than likely have been a WASPI but it would have been my own fault.
Sadly a lot of women do need assistance to navigate financial matters like pensions and pension changes. A friend's sister is a WASPI, divorced, left with nothing, renting and still working two jobs at nearly 70. She didn't have a clue about pensions but my friend has ensured she is financially secure. Not everyone has help like that though.
 
TBH whenever I see articles about pensions in the paper or TV I generally switch off, so yeah, I'd have been caught out. It always went in the too complicated/confusing category.

I think the younger generation are a bit more engaged. Back in the day there were a lot of jobs that came with a pension which is just not the case now so they have to work it out. However I do think some will leave it too late because they need the extra money now.
Back in the day you had to opt into a lot of company pensions, now you have to actively opt our since auto enrollment became a thing so its actually more automated now.
 
Mandelson making a stellar first impression.


You can't bullshit a bullshitter as the phrase goes. Odious man. I guess we'll see how it goes but given his dodgy financial arangments it wouldn't surprise me if there is some sort of scandal next year. :rolleyes: They should have just kept the current ambassador.
 
Is anyone else slightly concerned by how much Elon is being pushed into politics by the news here?

Mostly saying the news as that seems to be the one thing I see. I know Farage has been hanging out with him but he doesn’t really seem to have any aspirations to continue further in politics and he doesn’t seem to be actively pushing Elon here yet

it’s just baffling to me
 
Is anyone else slightly concerned by how much Elon is being pushed into politics by the news here?

Mostly saying the news as that seems to be the one thing I see. I know Farage has been hanging out with him but he doesn’t really seem to have any aspirations to continue further in politics and he doesn’t seem to be actively pushing Elon here yet

it’s just baffling to me
foreign interference.jpg
 
Back
Top