State Pension

[pete75]

Do you really think they have any deluded thoughts they may win the next election?

That's not the point. The point is they've brought in tax policies that will benefit themselves and their funders/influencers at the expense of the least well off. It's not a vote-winning exercise - it's a final pay-off to themselves. An incoming government would have to reverse these policies.

Whether the electorate will punish them for it is another question.

It's not benefitting wealthier people, it's not affecting them. They stay as they would be even if the thesholds were raised. It's been done so they can pretend to reduce taxation by lowering NI etc. The latter is not necessarily a bad thing. NI is a tax, whatever they call it, and one of the wealthier sections of society, the over 65s don't pay it. They do pay income tax though and incorporating it in that would help lighten the load on younger folk.

[toontra]

It's not benefitting wealthier people, it's not affecting them.

It's increasing the disparity between the wealthy and the poorest - in effect benefiting them comparatively.

[rjb]

Latest report on "waspi" due tomorrow. It's been dragging on far too long already.

Women's state pension: Campaigners urge payouts as Waspi report due - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68622764

Time for a complete overhaul of the state pension system. It was previously paid for by NI contributions but the chancellor has indicated he's moving to an income tax system with the phasing out of NI. This will be detrimental to current pensioners who funded there state pensions through NI contributions.

The current system is a bag of worms. Far too complicated even for pension ministers to understand.

The report is out and recommends compensation of between 1-3k for all those affected. Mrs RJB is not very optimistic. The 2.6 million ladies affected were born between 6 April, 1950 and 5 April, 1960.

[pete75]

It's not benefitting wealthier people, it's not affecting them.

It's increasing the disparity between the wealthy and the poorest - in effect benefiting them comparatively.

If your neighbour's income falls compared to your own that is of no benefit to you whatsoever.

[axel_knutt]

Latest report on "waspi" due tomorrow. It's been dragging on far too long already.

Women's state pension: Campaigners urge payouts as Waspi report due - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68622764

Time for a complete overhaul of the state pension system. It was previously paid for by NI contributions but the chancellor has indicated he's moving to an income tax system with the phasing out of NI. This will be detrimental to current pensioners who funded there state pensions through NI contributions.

The current system is a bag of worms. Far too complicated even for pension ministers to understand.

The report is out and recommends compensation of between 1-3k for all those affected. Mrs RJB is not very optimistic. The 2.6 million ladies affected were born between 6 April, 1950 and 5 April, 1960.

Didn't the waspi women get one of these, or have I misunderstood what their grievance is about?

[Psamathe]

Latest report on "waspi" due tomorrow. It's been dragging on far too long already.

Women's state pension: Campaigners urge payouts as Waspi report due - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68622764

Time for a complete overhaul of the state pension system. It was previously paid for by NI contributions but the chancellor has indicated he's moving to an income tax system with the phasing out of NI. This will be detrimental to current pensioners who funded there state pensions through NI contributions.

The current system is a bag of worms. Far too complicated even for pension ministers to understand.

The report is out and recommends compensation of between 1-3k for all those affected. Mrs RJB is not very optimistic. The 2.6 million ladies affected were born between 6 April, 1950 and 5 April, 1960.

Didn't the waspi women get one of these, or have I misunderstood what their grievance is about?
Pension Date.jpg

I didn't and I'm ♂. But then as you go through your working life you occasionally wonder about retiring, wonder about life after work, wonder about money after retiring, etc., make a few checks and immediately you find out exactly where you stand. Which makes me wonder how those complaining about not being told saying they couldn't plan for it but were they planning anyway because any planning and they'd have immediately found out about the change.

Ian

[rjb]

The issue was the short timescale. Looking at the letter dated sep 2013 some people about to retire at 60 would have had the rug pulled beneath them and told they would have to make provision to retire later. Not much notice for a fundamental change to their retirement plans. Some would have jobs which required them to retire at 60. Finding employment at that age with a comenserate salary would have been impossible. Then they had a further kick in the teeth to increase the retirement age to 66.
The short notice was the issue with the way it was foisted on the public.

[Psamathe]

The issue was the short timescale. Looking at the letter dated sep 2013 some people about to retire at 60 would have had the rug pulled beneath them and told they would have to make provision to retire later. Not much notice for a fundamental change to their retirement plans. Some would have jobs which required them to retire at 60. Finding employment at that age with a comenserate salary would have been impossible. Then they had a further kick in the teeth to increase the retirement age to 66.
The short notice was the issue with the way it was foisted on the public.

My (possibly wrong) understanding is that the changes were made many years ago but the notifications were not sent out (I didn't get one) but any checks on pension (as when thinking about the future) and it is immediately clear that retirement ages have changed.

Ian

[toontra]

The short notice was the issue with the way it was foisted on the public.

The time for public outcry was in 2013.

This has echoes of the fiscal drag mentioned upthread. It was startlingly obvious when the policy was announced 2 years ago that it would have hugely detrimental impact on many, including pensioners. I still don't know why there wasn't an outcry then.

[rualexander]

The issue was the short timescale. Looking at the letter dated sep 2013 some people about to retire at 60 would have had the rug pulled beneath them and told they would have to make provision to retire later. Not much notice for a fundamental change to their retirement plans. Some would have jobs which required them to retire at 60. Finding employment at that age with a comenserate salary would have been impossible. Then they had a further kick in the teeth to increase the retirement age to 66.
The short notice was the issue with the way it was foisted on the public.

The Pensions Act 1995 introduced the timescale for the women's state pension age to move to the same as men's at 65.
So they should have known about it since 1995 as it was in the news at that time.
There was some further tinkering with the timescale in the 2010's and the increases of ages to 66 and 67.

[axel_knutt]

any checks on pension (as when thinking about the future) and it is immediately clear that retirement ages have changed.

People are likely to have already done their checks & planning before the change though.

[toontra]

Taxation, pension and financial regulations are changing constantly. Doing a check 5 or 10 years ago and hoping things have remained the same in the intervening years is pretty silly.

Ignorance of the regulations (provided the information is in the public domain) is no more a defence than ignorance of the law. Laws also change frequently and people are expected to keep up to date to stay on the right side of them.

I do have sympathy for those affected by this, but the time for outcry was many years ago when the policy was first announced.

[rjb]

Bere in mind when the waspi issue came to light the internet was none existent so a pension forecast involved writing to the pension dept to request one. The information was not generally accessible as it is today.

[853]

Bere in mind when the waspi issue came to light the internet was none existent so a pension forecast involved writing to the pension dept to request one. The information was not generally accessible as it is today.

The 1995 Pensions Act phased in the increase from 2010; there was good internet by then

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Aga ... Inequality

[Jdsk]

Latest report on "waspi" due tomorrow. It's been dragging on far too long already.

Women's state pension: Campaigners urge payouts as Waspi report due - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68622764

Time for a complete overhaul of the state pension system. It was previously paid for by NI contributions but the chancellor has indicated he's moving to an income tax system with the phasing out of NI. This will be detrimental to current pensioners who funded there state pensions through NI contributions.

The current system is a bag of worms. Far too complicated even for pension ministers to understand.

The report is out and recommends compensation of between 1-3k for all those affected. Mrs RJB is not very optimistic. The 2.6 million ladies affected were born between 6 April, 1950 and 5 April, 1960.

Didn't the waspi women get one of these, or have I misunderstood what their grievance is about?
Pension Date.jpg

The summary of the part of the Ombudsman's report which refers to inadequate communication:
https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/publicatio ... nication-0

Jonathan