Loss Of Earnings And Pensions Among UK Thalidomide Survivors
Aims
The beneficiaries of the UK Thalidomide Trust, now in their 50s, are experiencing consequential thalidomide damage that is having an increasingly severe effect on their working lives, incomes and future pensions.
This report provides detailed evidence of the extensive challenges experienced by beneficiaries of the UK Thalidomide Trust in sustaining paid work and careers as they experience rapidly increasing health problems; and of the earnings and pensions entitlements they have consequently lost or foregone.
What was found
A representative survey of UK thalidomide survivors shows that consequential damage has forced three out of five to change their work situations since 2000; at that time they were in their early 40s, some 25 years before statutory retirement age.
The survey looks at the following issues related to this fact:
- Changes in work status
- Impact on earnings
- Impact on pensions
- Relationships between work and health
- Future work plans
- The impact of thalidomide on family member's employment and earnings
- Lifetime discrimination
View the executive summary report and full published reports here:
Executive Summary Loss of Earnings Report 2016
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