YOUR article on Carillion ("Carillion collapse is continuing to hit British firms", The Herald, January 15) could easily have been extended to include many in Carillion’s pension scheme who are yet to access their pensions. Just like the many small business who have been denied payment for works completed, Carillion pension holders have been left in limbo and denied access to monies rightfully theirs. Carillion pensioners who have not released any income from their pension pot have been informed access is currently frozen and in the hands of administrators.
This must be causing much grief to so many, especially members who have reached 55 years of age who would have normally had automatic access to their pension and for any members with health issues. It is in no way reassuring for those members that the Government's Pension Protection Fund will kick in guaranteeing 90 per cent of expected pension, because it is access now that is required. So Carillion’s collapse has had and continues to have devastating consequences for so many small contractors and individuals and the Government at Westminster in no small way is answerable as it continued to award contracts to Carillion despite umpteen profit warnings by this company.
Catriona C Clark,
52 Hawthorn Drive,
Banknock, Falkirk.
I AM a Waspi woman. Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) represents women who received little or no notification of a cumulative five and a half years' delay in the receipt of their state pension.
Since July 2017 I have been engaged in complaining to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) about its failure to notify me about delays to my state pension age. The process of complaining to the DWP is not for the faint-hearted – it has involved four letters and four responses from DWP all within tightly prescribed timescales.
On January 9, 2018 I received notification from the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) that, having followed the above process, my complaint had been accepted for investigation. On July 31, 2018 I contacted ICE for an update as, seven months later, I still had no further communication from them. I was informed that my case would not be considered until January 2019, at the earliest. These timescales are, I believe, designed to discourage all but the most tenacious complainants.
On November 30, 2018, another group, campaigning on similar issues to Waspi, was granted a Judicial Review but this will not be heard until June 2019. On December 5 I received a letter from ICE informing me that, because of the granting of the Judicial Review, my case has been closed. I cannot believe it. I could understand if my case was delayed, awaiting the outcome of the Judicial Review but closed is just ridiculous.
It is also astonishing how quickly that letter of December 5 last year could be sent to me when letters DWP says were sent to me advising me of two pension acts, spanning 13 years, were not received by me at the address where I have lived for almost two decades. There was no reason I would not have received these letters, if they had been sent.
I am further advised in the letter of December 5 that "if I am dissatisfied with the service provided by ICE I can approach my Member of Parliament who can assist with referring my case to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman". I am about to embark on this further process which I am sure will be equally arduous to the one already described above. I am fortunate that I am able to do this and have the resources to do so. Through Waspi I have met many women born in the 1950s who simply don’t have the energy, skills or health to undertake these processes, and so their plight is neither noticed or addressed.
Last week I watched the film I, Daniel Blake. I can identify with Blake’s frustration and despair. The treatment of the fictional character was disgraceful. The similar disparaging treatment of real people, 1950s-born women, needs to be recognised as a national disgrace and requires urgent action from our politicians.
Sandra Gibson,
Balgonie Avenue, Paisley.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel