The Elderly Peoples Entitlement

Just realised that last email I sent echoed my previous one a few messages up. My excuse is that I sent that a month ago and just assumed this was a new thread with a different petition.

Ah well, they both say the same thing so at least I am consistent!

I agree with you , Flickety, but it is a case of fighting every new little spiteful act of this government.

No, I won't sign this petition.

I think all the bells and whistles should be abolished and replaced by an increase in basic pension and Pension Credit Guarantee sufficient to compensate all poor and moderately off pensioners for their loss of ring-fenced benefits.

These payments are offensive and demeaning because they imply that the government thinks that because we are old we can no longer be relied on to manage our own budgets and make sensible decisions about how we spend our money. Instead we need to be given little lumps of ring-fenced money just in case instead of budgeting for our prescriptions we go out and spend it all on tea and biscuits.

Yes, I certainly feel for Frank.
Harvatt, I live in France so the only benefit I get is the WFA, but I care about the welfare of all other pensioners, so I will certainly sign the petition. Thank you for bringing it to our notice.

Frank, I think that I can say on behalf of other Gransnetters, "we feel for you", times must be difficult.

I should have said £100 per week tax in my last post.

Signed

susieb755

I am paying over £100 in tax already and I am not getting my state pension yet and I will be paying more when I do get it.
As far as I am concerned I think people should be thankful for the amount I am paying and no more should be taken from me by way of withdrawal of the free bus pass, tv licence fuel allowance and prescriptions.
I was a 40% tax payer for most of my working life.

Frank

Signed

done

No, I think everyone of these bells and whistles should be done away with. They are discriminatory and demeaning, for example if like me you get travel sick on buses, particularly stop start urban buses, a bus permit is of no use whatsoever, no matter how small my pension. Many disabled people cannot use buses either (see current thread on Disability Badges) I also object to the implicit suggestion that I am incapable of managing my finances now I am over 65 so have to be given little dribbles of ring fenced money like the free tv license and bus passes.

Instead we should get a rise in the state pension and a good hike in the in the Pension Credit minimum income guarantee, then we can continue to make our own choices about how we spend our money.

What we should be campaigning for is a proper pension and the end of discretionary payments. They make us kook like mendicants begging outside the richman's door for a few crumbs from his table.

I can't even get on and off a bus. Ergo I don't have a pass.
Should I be taxed on something I don't have and can't use?

Surely if you are not wealthy , you wont be losing it?

Thanks , rarely get administrators on other Forums that
take the trouble to inform everyone .
Thanks again Kat !

Ever time I get within sniffing distance of my bus pass they add a few more years to my 'pensionable age' and it moves further out of my reach. With local bus fares costing £1.10 to go a mile into town (single ticket) and nearly £7 (single) to get into the city 12 miles away I need a bus pass. (stamps foot and mutters emoticon)

As I said on the earlier thread, it makes sense to treat winter fuel allowance and free TV licence as taxable income. Bus passes and the London freedom pass are more complicated. Apart from determining the value for each pensioner (some of whom use them much more than others), which would be a costly exercise, there is the impact on bus services, already mentioned, an increased use of cars, and the financial implications for places - shops, houses and museums, countryside - pensioners like to visit.

Every Elderly Person should be entitled to a memory like that, Galen

Oh I forgot to say! Weirdly, it turned up on every first date I had after. Including the man I married!

When I was young, it was very strange! On my first date with youth a Chris Barber number was played! I haven't heard it now for years. The first time was in France where I had my first kiss! I was on a French exchange .
The song?
"petite Fleur'

Flick - see you including free prescriptions in this?

Frankly, I would abolish every single one of all these bells and whistles and replace it with a rise in the basic pension, plus a large rise in Pension Credit entitlements.

I think extras like these are patronising and demeaning, suggesting that once you reach pensionable age you are incapable of efficiently managing your money and need little packets of money ringfenced so that they can only be spent on one budget item deemed worthy by the government.

Frank attends bums and tums classes Harvatt and my comment, the winner takes all was because of his comment on those who pay more tax should have all the benefits. I just reread what I wrote and you were probably feeling a bit .

To Ariadne - thats OK I prefer to be friends , I am
sorry too .

Maybe I was too, Harvatt! Sorry.