Readers respond to the recent announcement that the government won’t pay compensation to women affected by the rising pension age
I’m furious at the government’s decision to ignore the advice of the ombudsman and refusal to compensate Waspi women (Anger greets UK government decision not to compensate ‘Waspi women’, 17 December). What’s the point in having a lengthy and expensive review if you don’t pay it any heed? I along with many others have been waiting a long time to hear what our compensation would be, even though it would go nowhere near the £50,000 many of us lost. I didn’t imagine they would so easily dismiss our suffering as a result of government failure to give us time to plan. Labour has already removed the winter fuel allowance. One wonders what it will hit us with next.
When you’re close to the edge of a precipice, every kick brings greater jeopardy. It’s almost as if they want pensioners to suffer, that we are their scapegoats. This is a last straw for me when it comes to Labour. I will never trust it with my vote again. I’d leave the country and go and live close to my daughter in New Zealand, but I can’t because the government then freezes your pension and you’re effectively worse off every year. I wrote to the pension minister about that, but it seems I’m not even important enough to warrant a reply. Maybe the government thinks we don’t matter because we’re not powerful, or that we’ll be gone before too long. It underestimates us.
Cathy Preston
Heathfield, East Sussex
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