Benefits for OAPs will cost extra £12bn a year

shabby I have to say that now I feel we have more disposable income than ever before so can relate to the fact that "pensioners have stopped being poor" when we where younger we had children to care & provide for and upkeep of a much larger home coming with that the replacement of furniture and white goods etc,something which we don't have to do now,buying for two instead of 5 in the weekly shopping budget also comes into the equasion so I really feel we are quite lucky as opposed to younger families.

As I look at my new fridge freezer it seems to me that white goods carry on going wrong whatever the age of the owner!

The problem is really the balance of population ages. More young people are needed to support "OAPs". Therefore we should be encouraging larger families, and until they reach maturity we should open our doors wider to young, vigorous hard-working immigrants while encouraging us crumblies to retire abroad.

Come on IFS, show some originality; look for a Swiftian solution!

State Pension is not a benefit. We paid into it throughout our working lives. We cannot be blamed because governments over the years chose to just pay pensions out of revenue rather than properly funding them through proper investment. Yes, the birds have come home to roost, why not discuss this with any ministerial survivors from the governments of the last 50 years.

Excellent point, FlicketyB. I don't know about you, but I'm still paying taxes, income tax, council tax, VAT, road tax....So I'm one of the taxpayers who is supporting pensioners.

And a pensioner.

It is all the start of the same drip, drip, drip poison that has been fed about immigrants and people on benefits. As soon as these words appear in a headline they are always with 'illegal' in the case of immigrants and 'cheats' when to comes to people on benefits. And remember these people who start this process of poisoning minds are the same people who retire on House of Commons pensions. Retirement is earned by people who work and pay their taxes and NIC and is NOT A BENEFIT. I am in my late 50s and honestly worry about what will be available when we retire, I make a rather sick joke with my children that by the the time we retire not only will we not get winter heating allowance, we will be the heating allowance as they throw us in the furnace!

Me too Gill! We most certainly will not be as wealthy as our parents. For a start, they will live far longer than their own parents and all of their savings will not come to us, they will be eaten up by an extra 20 years of paying for nursing or care home fees. I despair for my own children who will be lucky if they can ever afford a decent house of their own. DD's teeny box is already too small.

But we haven't got that money lying in a box under the bed. We're spending it, either on ourselves or our family, so the economy is still benefitting from it. And we 've only got what money/pension we have because we lived most of our lives paying for things, not living on credit. And therein lies the rub; maybe if we owed a lot rather than owned a lot [or a bit or even less] we'd not be a problem .

That could be part of it, because my mother always scrimps unnecessarily, but not DBH's parents who are the worst wasteful consumers I have ever met in my life bar none. They are proud SKI-ers. And my father was appalling with money. I think for every pensioner saving and scrimping in case of time of need there is another who is determinedly making up for war-time deprivations.

sadly unable to read the diatribe without subscribing so my blood pressure is probably safe for the moment.
according to statisitics I am considered poor - on a net income of £12K from state pension and a small private pension annuity but I must be well off because I have no housing costs (except upkeep, boiler servicing etc.)
while this is true I have to pay council tax, house insurance, tv licence, utilities out of that income (thank goodness I have a few savings for when there is an extra expense)
I do so loathe the media for portraying OAPs (as in the picture accompanying the article) as lounging on a veranda of what is obviously a holiday home surprised they did not include a picture of said pensioners leaning on the railing of a cruise ship!
also what is missing is the plight of single pensioners who do not have economies of scale. only one income (pension or annuity), only one tax free allowance, but the same utilities, insurances, tv licence etc as a couple.
and as others have said - I too pay tax, council tax, vat the same as others who are younger.
rant over.

Good post Mollie65 I think that you have said it all really, and besides........ 'we are worth it! '

Well, I don't begrudge people making up for wartime deprivations janerowena.
My mother (who died many years ago) was 16 when the war broke out.
Despite what some say, I don't think those years, when cities were devastated and people left homeless, loved ones far away with no word of whether they were safe or not, and the years of austerity which followed the war, were any sort of picnic.

In 2010 the WRVS did a report on the contribution that older people make to the economy.

Their research found that in 2010, over 65s, through taxes, spending power, provision of social care and the value of their volunteering, made an astonishing net contribution of £40 billion to the UK economy.

And as the overall number of people over 65 increases and people remain healthier for longer, opportunities to make a positive contribution through work or volunteering will only grow. We estimate that in 2030 the positive net contribution of over 65s will grow to £77 billion by 2030.

More than any other group in society, older people are the social glue of most communities. Our research shows that every year, each older volunteer spends an average of over 100 hours 'informally' volunteering and more than 55 hours in formal volunteering roles. This is worth £10 billion to the UK economy.

The link to the report is www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/our-impact/reports-and-reviews/gold-age-pensioners.

We need to hear more about this research and less about what we take out. Many of us, like Lilygran are tax payers, as she said we pay VAT, Council Tax, excise duty, road tax and stamp duty if we downsize.

Well said FlicketyB

Slightly of post, but connected - did anyone else hear Bonnie Grear on radio 4 discussing the riots in Ferguson? Much of what she said seemed fair and accurate to me, until she mentioned "the Boomers", blaming that generation for remaining stuck in racism. Doesn't she know about the white Americans who stood shoulder to shoulder with black activists in the 50't and 60's…..