Peers wanting to remove pensioners' benefits

Forgot to say we have a few Lords round here. They don’t use the buses.

Why not tax these benefits? Then those earning below £12500 get them in full, some pay 20% others 40% . Easier than means testing.

IMO wealthy pensioners do not need some of the free stuff. Perhaps it should be means tested and then, in a sensible world, there could be more financial support for the pensioners who are in need.

However, don't get me started on pensions. In my view that is fraud. Plain and simple. To be told that your contributions will be paid to you upon a certain age and then move the goalposts is outrageous and cruel. We barely had any notice to make provision.

I appreciate I am fortunate that I won't have to carry on working. I couldn't anyway due to poor health because my DH has a good company pension. Half of which I will continue to get if he dies before me. However, my heart goes out to those who have had to work beyond their expected retirement, some who are not very well, because of this disgraceful decision.

I joined WASPI.

And although I will survive without mine we are not very wealthy and I really could've done with it recently. Now have to wait for 6 flipping years to get what I expected at age 60.

If you paid into a savings account, signed an agreement which the company then willy nilly decided to change because they felt like it they would be taken to court. So how come the government are not being held accountable for this decision. The changes should've been made as people are starting out in their working life. Rolled in at that end not our end.

It disgusts me. Ooh I've gone all hot and angry on behalf of those dear women who have been put into hardship and stress due to such a disgraceful decision

The report does suggest the possibility of taxing them

dinah, I realised I'd put that badly!! I typed it from my sick bed!

What I meant was that the person with a private pension will have paid tax anyway.

GracesGranMK3
Thanks for that and no, I didn't think you were being 'nit-picky' at all.
I understood that LuckyFour had no other income other than a reduced state pension, that's why I mentioned the pop-up but of course, if you have any other income, whether private pension, interest on savings, stocks or investment income, those amounts would be taken into account and anything above the total threshold you mention would render you inelegible for pension credit.
I did not, however, know that PC had such a poor take-up rate.
I wonder why.

pop-up top-up

I am a WASPI also and was eagerly awaiting all the benefits of being 60, what a let down in having to wait an extra 6 years though as eager as i was to gain my bus pass it wouldnt have much use as the public transport where i live is awful. but why is it if you live in scotland or wales so many of these benefits at 60 are still available to them, and the government is based in London, how unfair is that i ask

It is wrong to talk about anything that pensioners get as 'benefits'. We've worked for all of it, and worked damn hard when times were very different from now. Our mortgage interest when we started out was 15%!! We scrimped for years to save a bit. We didn't have the kids till we could afford for me to give up work to look after them till they went to school. We didn't walk about with a smart phone in one hand and a £4.00 cup of coffee in the other hand. Some pensioners are better off than others, but that's because they saved as they went along. I actually wish to God now that we'd spent every penny as it came in.

Nana How would you describe the money from the state that a 63 year old woman whose worked all her life from 16 and then is made redundant? How would you describe the money that a 35 year old woman receives for caring 24/7 for her severely disabled child? Of course the SP is a benefit - as explained upthread it is not funded from the contributions you put in whilst working. I’m fed up of older people thinking they are the only ones who’ve ever worked hard. Life is hard for many young people today. As for another comment on interest rates - god give me strength. Which part of the ratio of house prices to incomes do you not understand?

And if you’d walked about with a smartphone then you’d clearly have been back to the future. Struth.

Mary - I couldn't agree more.

Pension contributions don't sit in a pot somewhere for you to draw on - they are funded through current taxation of those wastrels walking about with their £4 cups of coffee who are struggling to pay back the many thousands it cost them to go through university (the same universities we went to free of charge) and worrying about how they'll ever get a foot on the property ladder.

maye "WFA and BP should kick in 5 years after SPA - that’s just bonkers imo" I think you have that wrong, I think they come at the same time

Why can't we have a system that makes these benefits income related? My husband and I would be happy to pay say 50 pence for all our journeys on the tube and bus, (we live in London) also we do not need the fuel allowance or the free television. There is huge poverty amongst many pensioners and they should, of course, receive these benefits. The argument that making things income related is too expensive is nonsense, once the system was in place it could be used for other benefits.

Actually GG I have read every post on this thread up to the one in which you respond to me. When I haven't read every post I say so.

Yes, I do know NI is just another tax so didn't need the patronisation but thank you anyway.

No, I have not 'chosen to believe' I have information from the government telling me I would get a pension based upon my NI contributions. In fact, because I had children before NI was credited for staying at home to look after them I don't get a full pension. No need for the sarcasm then, need to check your facts.

I don't know on what basis you suggest where my income comes compared to others and I have no intention of telling you but I think your attitude is very unpleasant and it is unworthy to get personal.

If you don't like these proposed measures then don't vote Conservative.

Smile I don't agree, if pensioners had to pay £100 + for their annual prescriptions it would mean that some wouldn't get the medication they need as they would have to make the choice between meds and food or heating. I say this for the benefit of others as I have had free prescriptions for many years as I have one of the conditions which entitle me to them.

marye still waiting for your answer!

However you also said "I’m fed up of older people thinking they are the only ones who’ve ever worked hard. Life is hard for many young people today. As for another comment on interest rates - god give me strength. Which part of the ratio of house prices to incomes do you not understand?" but it is not as simple as that, you have to look at the bigger picture. House prices are higher for several reasons, one being that both incomes are now taken into account. Other things are a lot cheaper though, clothes (especially school uniforms), food, furniture, white goods. You cannot take house prices in isolation from everything else. The fact remains that some young people are buying houses and it is not only the ones with very highly paid jobs. My own children are buying houses but not take away meals and coffees. They are driving modest, not new, cars and socialise with friends in their homes rather than expensive venues. They have prioritised their homes and families about all the other things some seem to think they are entitled to. Yes, some people will never be able to afford to buy a house, that has always been the case and, yes, life is not fair and it never will be.

You surely can't deny that some posters on here have worked hard for what they have? I haven't seen one of them suggesting that they have worked harder than anyone else but perhaps you can show me where they did?

But, nonnie, dh and I could afford to pay £100 pa for prescriptions, which is what I think smile is saying. Leaving more in the pot for those who do need it.

Jodie, I have no intention of voting Conservative, but none of the other parties will change the pension age now it’s been set.

Sorry, Jaxie

Sorry Kitty perhaps I didn't explain it well. Many of us can afford to pay for prescriptions but if free ones were means tested or simply abolished there would be many who would choose to eat or heat instead of taking the medication. In the long run that would cost the state more.

I don’t think you can say anyone on £168 per week is “wealthy”

I’d solve the prescription issue by making them free for everyone - the majority don’t pay anyway and the current exemption system is grossly unfair. Aren’t they free in Wales and Scotland?

Yes they're free up here - although many of us wonder why, given that so many of us can afford to pay and the NHS in Scotland could well do with an injection of cash like the rUK.