will OAP's loosing out??

When I was in my twenties and people were getting married. Thy hits in my office couldn't wait to stop payment of NI. I was always advised to pay into a pension.

Try living in Aus Super or other pensions get deducted off your state pension as do casual earnings
And you are means tested !!!!

I don't believe in inheritance tax.
There are many other countries which provide good services without that.

I'm glad your DC could manage without a windfall, margrano but so many cannot get on to the property ladder these days.

Tamayra and healthcare is far from free!

Inheritance tax is dreadful as we as a family already know the way it's stolen ! The deceased already having paid tax throughout their working life/lives only for it to be taxed again when leaving this earth. Dreadful.

I agree with those who are against means testing. There are lots of reasons why some people are better off than others. In my case my father and his father before him studied hard at school and worked all the hours in their jobs. They also saved prudently. As a result I feel that I’m comfortable money wise. I also worked and saved hard as did my husband. I know many hardworking people are less fortunate but there has to be an incentive for trying to earn as much as you can and saving some of it. We all pay the same NI and should get the same benefits with extra provided for those in need. My husband and I both donate our fuel allowance to charities which help the elderly.

Jennvg, how am I " digging a hole for myself " when all I'm suggesting is helping others ?

Where are all these posters coming from btw ? I don't see them on the Good Morning thread.

I would like to add that those who begrudge money given to the Royal Family seem to forget how much money is generated by tourism. As soon as things get back to normal this will again be the case and will bolster many businesses and keep many people in employment.

I worked hard too Aonk, as did many others, but much always wants more don't they ??

At least I'm not mean nor greedy !!

Well I don’t have a private pension, I worked to help pay the mortgage and put food on the table. We are mortgage free, much as I would have liked to sell the house and help the children get on the property ladder, I knew that I would never be able to afford private rents, so hung onto my house. We manage nicely, but if anything were to happen to my husband, I don’t know where that would leave me. I have never been in a position to be ‘smug’ - thankfully.

Who's " smug " Taptan ?

but much always wants more don't they ??

Oh the irony.

I think there ahould be a nominal chatge of, say, £10 per year for a bus pass.

Think what you like Chewbacca.

Yes, kittylester, I'd go along with that. A small price to pay for those who use the service regularly.

I didn’t go out to work because my husband suffered ill health as a result of being wounded in the DDay landings. This meant that I had to do all the decorating, gardening and heavy work. When my husband was made redundant because of increasing deafness at the age of fifty seven we had to sell our nice house in Hampshire and buy a small one in.a cheaper district to get enough money to live on until he got his pension at sixty five. He died at sixty seven. I have managed very well on pension credit for the past thirty two years. Being disabled I rely on the fuel allowance to keep warm in the winter.
This is paid to all pensioners in spite of their income. I know my son doesn’t need it ,bus pass etc
When I read the Rich List I wonder how many of those pay taxes .probably many live in tax havens.

One thing the government will save from all the pensioners dying from the virus!

EllanVannin as you so obviously don’t need help with your heating costs please pass the money along to me! If it goes it will definitely be a case of heat or eat for myself and my husband.

A comment on the free travel of OAPs: apparently for every £2.00 of free travel we receive on average we spend about £2.80. So, a net 80p goes into the economy. There is probably also a hidden saving attached: our trip into town to meed friends, attend U3A meetings and attend pilates or tai chi sessions is probably keeping us fit and well, physically and mentally, so we're less likely to become a burden on the NHS. I've paid it in, so I don't see why I shouldn't get it back. However, I will be generous with my spare time and any spare cash I have. We live near the centre of town and I'm contemplating walking if public transport remains a problem. A shame, as public transport versus private car was going some way towards saving the planet.

EllenVannin can you not see that your comments are not "helping others" as you put it but are simply winding the ladies up, and causing aggravation to some, we don't need to know that you can manage without the heating benefit, or the ten pound Xmas bonus and that your bus pass can wait, these are comments that you could surely keep to yourself, you will just continue to get negative comments which may cause you anxiety.

The idea that the old should help to pay for the pandemic through breaking the triple lock, loss of benefits like the winter fuel allowance, etc, is framed as being fairer to the young, who will suffer through unemployment. This is a false dichotomy. There are poor young and poor old, and they have more in common with each other than they have with rich people of the same age. Maybe instead of asking people at the bottom of the heap to bear the brunt, we could look at the way people at the top could contribute more. We could start by looking at those extremely wealthy companies or individuals who manage to avoid contributing at all.

My husband and I live on our state pensions and his teeny-weeny private pension. The changes proposed will hurt us, and we won't be the only ones. There will be more pensioners sliding back into poverty. At the same time, I am guessing that the Universal Credit rate will be kept down too. The poor will pay for the pandemic.

It's the same the whole world over, It's the poor what gets the blame. It's the rich what gets the pleasure - Ain't it all a bleeding shame?

Many on this forum would be willing to lose these allowances as they've all said so in the past when it was discussed, most having husbands/partners.

Those people are not representative of pensioners. Every couple becomes a widowed person at some point, when one of them dies first, most often the husband.

People who have been on benefits all there lives and saved nothing are the ones that are worried

If they've been on benefits all their lives they're unlikely to have been in any position to save anything for their retirement.

It seems to me that old people have already done enough to pay for this pandemic. They have died in their thousands and so saved the tax payer millions in pensions and care fees paid by the tax payer indirectly via local authorities and other benefits. They sacrificed their lives during the world wars and other smaller wars and now they are dying in their droves. Enough!