What discounts /reductions for 60+?

Our local garden centre gives a discount on one day of the week and some DIY stores do the same. Ask wherever you go you have nothing to lose.

I don't remember getting any discounts at sixty, but I really cannot wait to reach 80, when we all get an extra 25p per weeks extra pension!!! Oh, the excitement of deciding what to spend it on!

I believe also that your prescriptions are free (good news!) but I'd love a travel pass - 66 for me which seems very unfair if you get them age 60 in London!!

No bus passes for us 1950s ladies who have to wait until we are 66 for our state pensions - if you are made redundant at 60 and can't get another job (like me) not only do you have nothing to live on for 6 years (JSA only 6m) you don't get a bus pass either.

SunRa How exciting and intriguing. Don't you have to pay towards any universal council services, ie education?

You don't have to pay to get bulky items taken away by the Council.
Very useful when having a clear out.

Mind you in might only be Surrey that charges for that normally anyway- it wouldn't surprise me!

I'm too young for a pension at 62, but being despite being unemployed and chronically ill I don't get any benefits at all. Not a squeak, not a penny. So the over 60s discounts mean miles more to me than most.
The reason why I'm not allowed jsa, dla or whatever it would have been is that I've had to move in with my boyfriend who is still working (struggling!) and the DWP have declared that he must be keeping me!
Poor John. I'm sorry to be a burden to him, but we have no choice right now. Thank goodness for the free bus pass and free prescriptions!

You only have to be 50 for a discount coach travel card. Unless it's gone up since I had one. I use trains but some journeys with changes are easier by coach. Also coach stations are usually central whereas some railway stations are outside the city centre, Cambridge springs to mind.
As well as Silver Screen showings some cinemas have discounts for seniors at other times.

You can't get a bus pass here until you get your state pension. I will be 67 ?
I asked what the age was for the "senior citizen" discount at our University sports centre and nobody knew.
A lot of tourist attractions just presume, DH was sold a concession ticket at 54 without him asking for it.

I agree that better off "oldies" might pay less per item, but they are the ones who are also time rich and so will spend more in the long run eg.cheap cinema twice a week as opposed to full price monthly.

Am I the only one who thinks businesses that offer discounts to those over 60 are being unfair to everyone else?

Not talking about state benefits here, but things like hairdressers, pubs, railcards etc.

If the rationale is that older people are using the service at less busy times, when there might be no other customers, then the discount should apply to everyone who uses the service at that time.

The charge a business makes to use its service should be based on the cost of providing that service.
If it charges some customers less than others, then those others are effectively subsiding the ones who pay less.

Why should a working person who is paying tax and national insurance which is already helping to provide public services, subsidise comfortably-off (not 'rich') older [people?

If a hairdresser's

Don't worry Gillybob, we all have 'off' days. I hope you have a better day very soon.

I always ask for concessions - use it or lose it! You can get membership of things like the National Trust and English Heritage at a slightly cheaper rate. Our local independent cinema has "silver screen" times when you get cheaper tickets and a free cup of tea and biscuits.

If you live in Cumbria, Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, there is the NOW card. It enables free travel at certain times on buses.

Lots of information here

www.nowcard.org/

Also there is free TV licence on reaching 75.

I don't live on the land .....I live on the water

I love my bus pass! We can use them here on local trains too.

Dont forget, best of all, Bus Passes, they are the very best as they can be used all over the Country, saves a fortune on bus fares.
Also, I use Senior Railcard thats a 30% discount and with train fares going up, thats a great advantage if you use trains a lot.
There are lots of advantages about being 60 plus!

SunRa I thought off-gridders still had to pay Council Tax - but then I'm not an expert on rural life!

Jacky the concessions the OP and most of us are talking about are not statutory 'entitlements' as such, they are merely discounts that many businesses give, often merely to get bums on seats.

To get a discount for fish & chips or cinema you wouldn't need to be a UK tax payer!

JackyB. Discounts apply throughout the EU for pensioners - but not for much longer!

Discounts for older people are a perk which the comfortably off have a choice to use, but for the elderly poor a bus pass or discounted entry/ticket may mean that they can afford a bit of recreation, or even afford to go out.

If your retirement income is less than £14000 for the household there is a warm homes allowance you can get - obviously wouldn't apply to 2 workers in the house. Not sure what the lower age limit is but its worth looking into. BTW its got nothing to do with the winter fuel allowance.

When visiting the UK recently with my husband (I am over 60, he is over 65) I didn't dare ask for OAP concessions, as we are not tax-paying citizens.

Although we did get a reduction on an admission fee in Spain last year. They didn't even ask for proof that he was over 65!

Perhaps some of these reductions and discounts also apply to foreign visitors - anyone know?

You can get a senior railcard - worth thinking about if you do use the trains a fair bit. They are valid for either 1 or 3 years. I hit 60 in Jan and had no idea what discounts were out there. As I don't pay council tax (I live off grid) there's a few things I can't get - but I don't do much locally so it's not the end of the world. railcard only needed passport or driving licence number which they then check centrally - sorted!

Can't even cross a bloomin' sentence out right.

It's okay really annsixty and I know you weren't trying to upset me. I really do. it's just me. I could fight with a feather these days .....

Yes Anya's right . Group Hug .

Sincerely hope I haven't frightened OP off it was never my intention.

-- oh shut up and have a cup of tea woman--