Refunds scheme a 'potential disaster'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A compensation scheme for people who were ill-advised about changes to the state pensions system could be "potentially disastrous" MPs warned yesterday.
The Public Administration Select Committee told Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Social Security, that the £8bn scheme was at risk of being unworkable.
Mr Darling announced the programme after the disclosure that thousands of people had not been told that their entitlement to the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (Serps) would be halved.
But Dr Tony Wright, the committee's chairman, said it was a mistake to place the onus for disproving people's claims on the Department of Social Security (DSS).
"If a person comes forward and says I picked up a DSS leaflet 10 years ago and it failed to tell me about the change, how are you going to tell whether that person is telling lies? This scheme could be potentially disastrous," he said.
Mr Darling insisted that there would be tight enough rules to determine whether claims were genuine.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments