Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

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Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby dutchman » Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:28 am

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell says party ‘owes debt of honour’ to 3 million over changes in retirement age

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More than 3 million women who believe they have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after steep increases to the state pension age are being promised compensation by Labour as part of a £58bn scheme designed to end a “historic injustice”.

In the party’s latest major policy announcement, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that a “debt of honour” was owed to women born in the 1950s who say they were given insufficient notice of big changes to the state pension age.

In an interview with the Observer, he said that Labour would introduce a universal scheme that would see the women affected given a maximum payment of £31,300, with an average payment of £15,380.

“We’re recognising this is a historic injustice that we think we have a debt of honour to address,” McDonnell said. “I think there is a rightful sense of injustice that’s been built up by these women about how they were treated. Most of them felt they had a contract between them and the government on their pension.

“They were paying in, they had a set date, the government changed that date, they are not properly informed and for many of them it is too late for them to plan properly for the changes this introduces into their lives. It is about income, of course it is. But often it is about many of them planning to retire, looking forward to looking after their grandchildren, taking them to school and picking up. Many of them have had to go back to work.”

The compensation scheme for 1950s-born women fulfils a pledge in Labour’s manifesto, unveiled last week, to “design a system of recompense for the losses and insecurity they have suffered”. Labour says compensation could cost £58bn in total over five years, though some of the costs may be recouped after tax.

The party is treating the cost as a “contingency” because court action may force whoever forms the next government to pay compensation to the women. McDonnell said the money would be raised “in the appropriate way”. However, it will leave the party open to accusations of another huge increase in spending. Paul Johnson, head of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, has already described Labour’s ambitious spending plans as “colossal”.

Changes in the pension age for women born in the 1950s have already featured in the election, during last week’s televised leader debates. When confronted by a campaigner on the issue during his BBC appearance on Friday, Johnson said that he could not commit to helping them. “It is very expensive to come up with the solution that you want,” he said. “I cannot promise that I can magic up that money for you tonight.”

It comes after a lengthy grassroots campaign waged by the women involved. Demands for compensation have raged since the coalition government decision to accelerate increases in the women’s state pension age from 60 to 65 or 66. The women involved complain they were given little notice and in some cases have had to work years longer than anticipated or have been plunged into poverty.

McDonnell said the party had attempted to devise a plan that could be deployed quickly and form part of its first budget. A scheme costing £58bn would see the women given a basic payment of £100 for every week of pension they have lost out on, with the scheme tapering off for women born between April 1955 and April 1960.

“The thing for me was trying to find a simple scheme to try to get the money into people’s pockets as quickly as possible and address that sense of grievance,” he said. “There will be some who think this is not satisfactory. I think this is the readiest way to do it. We’re dealing with this separate to the overall budgeting process.

“The number of Conservative MPs who have been raising it with me as well has been remarkable. All round the country we’ve been meeting women. Even if they’re not in penury because of what has happened, their lifestyles, their hopes in their retirement have been undermined. It’s all classes. It’s a universal injustice.”

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Re: Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby rebbonk » Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:22 am

Good way to buy a few votes.

I do think that many women were robbed though.
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Re: Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby dutchman » Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:35 am

Hundreds of thousands of men the same age were also robbed of Pension Credit, Council Tax Rebate and Housing Benefit. No mention of any compensation for them?
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Re: Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby rebbonk » Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:04 pm

Ah, men! The lowest of the low in this country, we simply don't matter. - Or so they think! :twisted:
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Re: Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby dutchman » Sun Nov 24, 2019 3:44 pm

A £100 per week is nothing like compensation for the amount both men and women have lost. Pension Credit (also known as the Minimum Income Guarantee) starts at £167.25 for a single person and £255.25 for a married couple. That would also have qualified someone for other benefits such as free dental treatment.
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Re: Labour pledges £58bn for women caught in pension trap

Postby dutchman » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:14 pm

'We've been robbed': how women hit by rise in pension age intend to vote

Almost 4 million women born in the 1950s, whose retirement age was increased from 60 to 66, have been weighing their voting intentions since Labour announced a £58bn compensation plan to pay back the “historic debt of honour”.

Jenny Hughes has voted Conservative all her life but she will never do so again, she said. “I did the right things all my life, financially, but am now forced to do gardening to keep my head above water, despite my hands being riddled with arthritis. I feel the Conservatives see us 1950s women just as a burden on society, no matter how much we have put in historically.”

She added: “We have been robbed, ridiculed and our plight ignored by the Conservatives. I now feel guilty and ignorant for having voted for them so long, and guilty that in doing so I thought only of myself and my own status. I will never vote Conservative again.”

Gill Wareing works as a civil servant and says she voted Conservative for many years but now feels very let down by them. She has had to sell her house and is now living in a caravan because of the pensions debacle. “Before Boris became prime minister he stated that he would do what he could to help us,” she said. “Now he says there is no money for us.”

Trish Vincent will also abandon a lifelong loyalty to the Tories over the issue. “’I’ve voted Conservative since I was able to. Boris said he would look at our campaign but once again has let us down.

“I don’t like Corbyn but leaders come and go,” she said. “If I can believe in Labour, then £31,000 of the £45,000 I’m owed is evidently being given to me in compensation. I’ve spent my entire life worrying about the country, Europe, my kids, the NHS. Now I have to be selfish and worry about me.”

Carol Lamb is one of the 1950s women worse hit by the pension changes. She is struggling to survive for the full six extra years without a state pension. “I have always voted Conservative,” she said. “But I am horrified at the injustice imposed by them on millions of women in a similar position to me.

“Boris Johnson initially said he might help us but has now changed his mind. In contrast, the Labour government has acknowledged the injustice and has come up with a plan to compensate us,” she said. “Who knows if it is an election ploy to get votes? But I will vote Labour on the strength of what they are offering.”

Denise Dickson has voted Conservative all her life but also won’t be doing so again. “Having been a staunch and unwavering lifelong Conservative voter, I am absolutely appalled by the disdain and breathtaking arrogance to which we have been recently subjected to by the Conservative party,” she said.

“It both pains and shames me but having been cast aside and our plight trivialised and ignored by the current corrupt Conservative party I feel that I must vote Labour because it seemingly has my welfare and future at the heart of their proposals,” she added.

There are, however, lifelong Labour voters who will be abandoning Labour at the polls despite their offer. Julie Davenport was a Labour member but says she will vote Conservative for the first time at the election.

“Labour will borrow the money and my son and his children will pay for it. We’ve already ruined the planet and left them a massive debt to inherit. And since Momentum joined Labour, I find it a hostile party for moderates.”

Labour’s pension offer will not persuade Davenport back to the party either because, she said. “The women who most need this money, who have to use food banks and can’t afford housing, heating and so on, will not see any of their compensation because the money given will be taken off of their benefits.”

Other women born in the fifties will, they say, vote Conservative despite Labour’s offer and Johnson’s U-turn. Judith Hilton would receive £23,200 in compensation before tax under Labour’s offer but will use the election to vote against it.

“I feel strongly that we should be repaid but I would rather repayment came from the court case and appeal brought by Backto60 than a blatant vote-buying pledge from Labour to partially compensate us to be paid for by even more government borrowing,” she said. “I believe in the long-term, far-left socialist policies will greatly endanger the national economy and we will all end up worse off.”

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Just to be clear the phasing-out of women's pensions was and still is also Labour Party policy!
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