Bus passes etc.

I use my bus pass, it's a great help as a 20 min journey here would cost me about £5.20 [including return journey.] Very well off people will get the bus pass if they want it, but I doubt that they do apply for it.So, that leaves all of us applying for one who really want it. As someone remarked, the buses would be nearly empty in some rural places [and may stop running] if it wasn't for older people.I hope that we will continue to get the Winter fuel payment and anything else , as I quite like the bells and whistles ,
sugar plums and toys, as a Gnetter called them.I also appreciate the senior reductions for the cinema, hairdresser etc, I don't feel beholden as some do, but it's like a little triumph actually!

This has come up before and no-one seemed to know whether the bus pass costs the tax payer anything if you don't use it! That does make a difference, surely?

There is a Parliamentary paper about bus passes which has, at section 1.4 on page 10, a bit on "Bus operator reimbursement". It sounds like a complicated calculation, a lot of it theoretical, but I think that it is partly based on observations of actual journeys taken.

I could be wrong.

That should say at section 4, not 1.4. Section 1.4 is "How it is funded" - also relevant.

just curious to know whats the expiry date on your bus pass...ive spoken to a few people and theirs end the same year as mine which is 2017....is there something in this?

dollie my Bus pass expires at the end of September 2017. There may or not be anything in this but anyone who doubts that the elderly will not see an assault on their concessions, benefits or pensions is, in my humble opinion, and despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, living in cloud cuckoo land. As soon as justification can be sold to the public it will happen. The drip feeding of missinformation regarding the emotive subject of what the elderly cost the benefit budget has already started. The writing is on the wall.

Mine expires at the end of November 2017. George Osborne plans to cut £12bn from the welfare budget. He calls 2014 a 'year of hard truths'.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/06/george-osborne-britain-cuts-austerity

Should make it clear that he is making plans for after the next general election.

I say again. Labour have said they will be seriously looking at bus passes etc. Lib Dems are saying they are seriously looking at it.

You are on a hide to nowhere if you think it is a possible Conservative policy only.

I think all of them will means test or do away with them after the next election.

Our age group is more likely to vote than our children and grandchildren. They should bear that in mind! Thanks for the link, Elegran

mine also expires in 2017 - is this significant?
actually if they added £10 to the basic state pension and dispensed with winter fuel payments, bus passes and the christmas box (did the same for the other benefit groups that receive the so-called 'freebies') this would not adversely affect anyone except those lucky pensioners who have good public transport. but it would at least shut up some of the 'boomer bashers' there are tarring us all as 'selfish rich and to be despised because we don't understand how hard it is for the young'. (read mumsnet AIBU if you doubt how the younger generation see us)
I do remember what it was to be younger and bringing up a son on my own supporting us through going out to work full time.

perhaps they are slowly phasing them out over the next 3 years..

A couple I know use their WFA to help fund their yearly trips to Australia, my mother donates hers to charity.

In the meantime, for the last 6 weeks I haven't been able to turn my heating on as we have run out of oil and cannot afford to order any.

I will also be working ( if I can get a job) until I am 66 before I get any pension.

phoenix I hear what you are saying but for every anecdotal evidence of the WFP being used frivolously there are many more stories of it being used as it should - to supplement the astronomical cost of heating particularly for those old (thin blood etc) and in all day as they find it difficult to get out and about. I am sitting typing on 'tinternet with 4 layers on, central heating not on, neither is the woodburning stove. I usually spend the evening wrapped in a heated throw (very good purchase - about £40 on Amazon) and go to bed with a hot water bottle and thick duvet.
my heating an utility costs - oil, logs and electricity is about £900 per year. I use the winter fuel payment to help pay for this.

I do realise that for many people it is a real life line, I wasn't for one moment suggesting that it is not needed.

Am I being out of line here to suggest that your mother "donates" her WFA to you this year so that you can buy some oil? I believe in some circumstances charity begins at home.

phoenix surely the couple with the trip to Australia, uses their WFA to pay their winter fuel, which means that frees up the money that they would have needed for heating - for a trip to Australia? That's what I would think anyway

Or put another way, when my WFA comes in, I don't think "Oh, I better immediately pay that to the energy company"...

annsixty not out of line at all, but unfortunately she hasn't spoken to me for years! But that, as they say, is another story.

Grannyknot I completely see your point, and I expect that most people receiving it use it for what is needed at the time.

Well I'm sorry about that and send you my apologies and also sympathy. I havn't read any posts of yours referring to that very sad situation. I just hope you are at peace with it.

Thank you ann. It is one of those things that I keep meaning to post about, but haven't. Unfortunately it is something that I do struggle with. I thought that when Jack died she might have had a different attitude, but she didn't.

I know mumsnet is a sister site but I think this thread is relevant to how we (or at least pensioners) are viewed based on personal experience of many posters there. How is it possible to so deride an entire generation - no-one ever thinks it is fair or reasonable to castigate and deride all young people so why is it acceptable to do this to a group of people of a certain age.
it seems to me that the problem is there are TOO many of us (not our fault ) and therefore any 'freebies' given us add up to a large sum.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1958431-To-think-the-only-reason-theyre-protecting-pensions-is-to-buy-votes?

I think Mumsnet is known for the abrasive stance they usually take on life !

nonu - then that is sad and there is abrasive which may be acceptable and bigoted (which is not according to them).
when I was young/middle-aged there was respect for the older generation which sadly seems to have been lost. they should all remember they too will some day be old and 'need' a bit more help.

There are some ridiculous generalisations in that Mumsnet thread, but there are also some valid points I think. Do people really think it is important to protect WFA for people with substantial pension income (say over £50k pa) in straightened times? Really?
I would lump WFA into the normal state pension, where it would be reclaimed via the tax system and avoid means testing. I would keep bus passes for those that can use them because it will help keep cars off the roads and help maintain the public transport system. Not sure about prescription charges. I do think it is reasonable to debate these things and be open to change though.

mamie of course I agree that someone on 50K pa (or should I say a household as WFA is paid per household) should not need the 'freebies' and I would include the bus pass in that - I remember seeing Jon Snow showing off his freedom pass on channel 4 news a year or so ago - he does not need it but the rural dweller who is unable to drive and relies on one daily bus to get to visit relatives or the Dr is a different kettle of fish - so I would say it is fairer to abolish the bus pass/freedom pass and have a pensioners rate for travel outside rush hours or alternatively something like the senior railcard.
the basic state pension chould be raised by say £5 a week to cover the loss of WFA and as the state pension is taxable for tax payers this would be fairer all round.
what worries me is there is talk of restricting the freebies to those on pension credit. who already get a load of freebies anyway. there are those of us who contributed to SERPs, paid into a private pension and although we are above the pension credit level income-wise we are far from 'rich'
I also wish someone would correct a common misconception that we don't have to pay for a TV licence - that is only the over 75s !