Thread by @Hawkins2Mac

Thread. A generation of women born in the 1950s were betrayed by the Coalition Government’s decision to accelerate the equalisation of the state pension age,yet the Tories are refusing to support women who’ve seen their retirement plans scuppered

• Labour will compensate 1950s women with a “weekly redress” based on the number of lost weeks of their pension and the amount of time they had to prepare.
With a full weekly redress payment of £100, the average compensation would be £15,400, paid in instalments over five yrs

2. A. Women born in the 1950s have been particularly affected by the rises in pension age. Those born later, both women and men, will obviously have to work longer too, but they were not as affected as those born in the 1950s.

3 Q. Why are those born after 1955 getting less than those born earlier when they lost just as many years?

3 A. Those born later had longer to adjust after the changes were made and they found out. We aren’t talking about compensating everyone in the country for raised retirement ages but specifically redressing a wrong done to those who suffered the most.

4.
Q. How will you pay for this? / Why isn’t this in the Grey Book?
A. It’s a one-off historical redress for a historical wrong, so the state will be expected to find the money, just as it would do if the Government lost a court case.

5 Q. Will there be NI contribution requirements?
A. The standard qualifying conditions would apply, although women who chose the married women’s option (to pay a lower rate of NI contributions) prior to 6 April 1977 should be treated as if they paid the full rate.

6 Q. How will payments be treated for the purposes of income tax?
A. It will be subject to income tax as pension income is. Many of the women affected have incomes so low that they won’t pay income tax anyway.