£300,000 discrimination against women

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by graham enzk

I got that from where you said rather than encourage benefit dependancy for carers, it would be better to not increase CA but instead help towards the costs for someone else to do the caring.

I agree that would be great for some people, but maintain that carers have the right to choose to care for their loved ones themselves, and to have that supported financially by the government in a realistic way rather than £26 more per week than someone on income support. I mean, if you think the government should help towards the cost of an outside carer, then why not suggest the original carer should get the same help from the government?
Thankyou for explaining that £26.
Also, I have given an example of where it is actually impossible for a carer to go to work, bar fostering or adoption of their loved one to someone else :-(
There are many many more situations like that. I had really hoped actually that you could have provided a viable option, even through part-time work (when no hours of work can be arranged in advance as the hours of care are different all the time).

Originally Posted by graham enzk

i think the CA shouldn't be counted as income in the calculation just like AA and DLA isn't so someone doing caring is actually recieving the £45 extra compared to others.

Sounds like a good idea.
I think it should be more than £45 too, closer to a full-time wage, but you have already asked me what amount I think, but I've already explained I couldn't give a ballpark figure.

[graham enzk]

Plans to raise the state pension age to 68 for both men and women have been confirmed in proposed legislation.

In the Queen's Speech, the Government outlined plans to introduce a Bill providing 'long-term reform' of the pension system.

The proposed legislation will raise the state pension age gradually to 68 by 2046 in response to increasing longevity of life.

According to the Government, this would ensure fairness between generations while at the same time secure the long-term financial stability and sustainability of the pension system.

Other parts of the proposed Pensions Bill are aimed at modernising existing rules to make it fairer to women and carers.

As such, the number of years it takes to build a full basic State Pension will fall from 44 years for men and 39 years for women to 30 years for everyone.

According to the Government, by 2010 70% of women reaching state pension age would have a full basic pension compared to only 30% today. This proportion would increase to more than 90% by 2025.

The Queen's Speech also confirmed that state pensions would be re-linked to earnings within the next Parliament.

The legislation announced builds on proposals outlined in a White Paper released earlier this year.

A second White Paper focusing on plans for a low-cost pensions savings vehicle is expected to released by the end of 2006.

i love how they release this information to the press before they tell us that actually deal with it.
not heard much details on the second part, it certainly won't be anything like you would like, from the very brief bit of info i got in a team meeting it may be something akin to what i thought would be a good idea but the way it was phrased was not very clear as it is only a proposal at the moment. i could see some pretty big flaws in the info i got but it may be covered when they take it further (if they actually do)