{"id":196960,"date":"2024-12-17T13:48:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/compensating-waspi-women-not-fair-or-value-for-taxpayer-liz-kendall-says\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T13:48:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:48:06","slug":"compensating-waspi-women-not-fair-or-value-for-taxpayer-liz-kendall-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/compensating-waspi-women-not-fair-or-value-for-taxpayer-liz-kendall-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Compensating Waspi women ‘not fair or value for taxpayer’, Liz Kendall says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Compensating<\/div>\n
\n

Sir Keir Starmer has defended a decision not to compensate women affected by changes to their retirement age – saying doing so would “burden” the taxpayer. <\/p>\n

The prime minister said he understood the concerns of the Women Against State Pension Inequality – often known as Waspi women – but their demands were not affordable.<\/p>\n

He was speaking after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall issued an apology for a 28-month delay in sending out letters to those born in the 1950s impacted by state pension changes.<\/p>\n

However, she said she doesn’t accept that compensation should be paid.<\/p>\n

Follow politics latest: Reaction to Waspi decision<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms Kendall said the “great majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing” and that a state-funded pay-out wouldn’t be “fair or value for taxpayers’ money'”.<\/p>\n

The announcement was branded a “day of shame” by the Liberal Democrats, who accused the Labour government of “turning its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged”.<\/p>\n

The Waspi campaign group hit out at the decision on X, reminding Ms Kendall that she had previously called for a “fair solution for all affected”.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n X<\/span>
\n
\n This content is provided by X<\/span>, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
\n To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
\n You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X<\/span> cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
\n You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options<\/a>.
\n <\/span>
\n
\n Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X<\/span> cookies.
\n To view this content you can use the button below to allow X<\/span> cookies for this session only.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n Enable Cookies<\/a>
\n Allow Cookies Once<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

In the mid-1990s, the government passed a law to raise the retirement age for women over a 10-year period to make it equal with men.<\/p>\n

The coalition government then sped up the timetable as part of its cost-cutting measures.<\/p>\n

The Waspi campaign group say millions suffered financially as they were not given sufficient warning to prepare for the later retirement age.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found that thousands of women may have been adversely impacted<\/a><\/strong> by failures to adequately inform people of the change.<\/p>\n

The watchdog suggested that women should receive compensation of between \u00a31,000 and \u00a32,950 – but the findings were not legally binding.<\/p>\n

Ms Kendall said paying that would have cost up to \u00a310.5 billion, which is not “fair or proportionate”.<\/p>\n

However she did accept there was maladministration in communicating the changes.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Sir Keir said: “I do understand, of course, the concern of the Waspi women. But also I have to take into account whether it’s right at the moment to impose a further burden on the taxpayer, which is what it would be.”<\/p>\n

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app<\/strong><\/a>. <\/em>You can also <\/em>follow us on WhatsApp<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and subscribe to our <\/em>YouTube channel<\/strong><\/em><\/a> to keep up with the latest news.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer has defended a decision not to compensate women affected by changes to their retirement age – saying doing so would “burden” the taxpayer. The prime minister said he understood the concerns of the Women Against State Pension Inequality – often known as Waspi women – but their demands were not affordable. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/19\/11\/1920x1080\/skynews-waspi-women-pension_4845584.jpg?20191124104010","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[154539,11112,71392,653,25867,9132,3653],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196962,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196960\/revisions\/196962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}