THE IRONY is acute. The government which, quite rightly, was in high dudgeon over people being mis-sold private pensions is accused of doing the same itself over the State Earnings Related Pensions Scheme. Changes made by the Tories to SERPS in 1986, and which then went unnoticed for 10 years, mean that after next year the entitlement for widows will be halved, making some as much as £40 a week worse off.
Compensation? Write to us and prove it is the DSS's fault, says the government. But it demanded that pensions firms themselves wrote to customers sold pensions worth less than they were told.
The irony of this, however, will not amuse anyone - particularly the widows who will lose £40 a week because of a hidden change of the rules. They are more likely to call it a hypocrisy that demands immediate redress.
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