Pensioner poverty

I will never vote Conservative again. I am ashamed of their behavour.

Thanks MIY i’ve just checked and I am not entitled to pension credit at the moment, I probably would be if I stopped working but I don’t want to do that but thank you for your advice

Shinamae

MadeInYorkshire

Shinamae

Having always done quite menial jobs I have never paid into a private pension scheme. Anyway I am 68 and still working part time in a care home and luckily enough I do love my job but my pension, my state pension, of £652 a month is certainly not enough for me to live on Even though I don’t drink drive or smoke it would just be an existence if i had to manage on that £652..

Shinamae aren't you entitled to Pension Credit?

I wouldn’t have thought so purely because I work.

I think you would be if you were unable to work, as that just isn't enough for any sort of life! Maybe go and have a look at the calculator?

www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator

MadeInYorkshire

Shinamae

Having always done quite menial jobs I have never paid into a private pension scheme. Anyway I am 68 and still working part time in a care home and luckily enough I do love my job but my pension, my state pension, of £652 a month is certainly not enough for me to live on Even though I don’t drink drive or smoke it would just be an existence if i had to manage on that £652..

Shinamae aren't you entitled to Pension Credit?

I wouldn’t have thought so purely because I work.

Shinamae

Having always done quite menial jobs I have never paid into a private pension scheme. Anyway I am 68 and still working part time in a care home and luckily enough I do love my job but my pension, my state pension, of £652 a month is certainly not enough for me to live on Even though I don’t drink drive or smoke it would just be an existence if i had to manage on that £652..

Shinamae aren't you entitled to Pension Credit?

Germanshepherdsmum

I don’t know how you managed to get money released from your local government pension Madeinyiorkshire. I couldn’t even transfer mine to a private pension when I left the public sector and had to wait until age 60 to receive it as a pension not a lump sum.

My pension small as it is, I was able to get as soon as I became unable to work - it is a Scottish NHS Pension. My Private pensions when I looked at them when I became 55 would have given me an income of £69 a month, so I didn't bother doing that and drew it down over several years which basically kept me afloat! All gone now, so upsizing actually with a much cheaper property in a worse area sadly ....

SillyNanny321

Hi madeinyorkshire good to hear I am not alone! After 2 spells in hospital after shoulder damage was told I would need Care. This was arranged without me being told I would have to pay. My Council told me that my DLA takes me above their limit & that they will not allow me to claim for a Cleaner, Gardener or Window Cleaner. All that they ‘allow’ is utilities, food & rent! Any debts that I have, credit card, is ignored & I should stop paying unnecessary items! So I had to pay a lump sum of £800+ which of course I had to borrow & now pay £20 a week for someone to help me wash my hair taking 15 mins twice a week! Seems some councils give more help but not mine! Hate being old but it does beat the alternative. Keep well!

Hi Sillynanny

Which Local Authority are you with as I can help you 'fight' that! It's an absolute disgrace .....

So you have been assessed as needing care, and are you actually getting any at all?

Yes they send you out a form to complete which only includes all your income and expenditure of housing costs, don't think mine actually gave me 'utilities' actually! They SHOULD be allowing you your Disability Related Expenditure!! So that is definitely something I can help you fight for if you would like me to?

Kind regards

Rachel

No-one should have to worry about being able to have a comfortable life after a lifetime’s work, and it sounds as if Shinamae has worked very hard and continues to do so. I’m glad you enjoy your job Shinamae but it can’t be easy. Please don’t put yourself down by saying you’ve done menial work. I’m sure everything you have done has been of value to society and honest work is always something to be proud of.

That’s why I work part time GSM because the extra money is of course very welcome and it’s a bonus that I enjoy my job.. Shinamae

I love you that you’re in that position, as I was, but so many of my friends ands family aren’t. They depend on the top ups and I personally don’t begrudge them a penny.

What so many youngsters don’t realise is that they will benefit from their grandparents and parents beneficence where so many of our generation didn’t.

Germanshepherdsmum

Neither do I shinamae. Even with pension credit and whatever other benefits may be available it must be a miserable existence. I do hope you will be able to get that pension topped up to a more realistic figure.

That’s why I work part time GSM because the extra money is of course very welcome and it’s a bonus that I enjoy my job..

I simply meant having to continually stick to a very tight budget with little opportunity for a small treat without worrying, grow. Worrying about increasing prices. Always having to think carefully before spending anything except on real essentials. Always worrying about some essential household appliance packing up and being unable to afford to repair or replace it, or some essential repairs to your house. A life filled with worry.

No council tax support unless they pay rent growstuff? That seems very unfair if they are on pension credit. I confess I don’t know the rules and am very grateful that I haven’t had to find out.

Germanshepherdsmum

Neither do I shinamae. Even with pension credit and whatever other benefits may be available it must be a miserable existence. I do hope you will be able to get that pension topped up to a more realistic figure.

It depends. In the past, I've forced myself to live on the maximum for Universal Credit and then Pension Credit. I've paid for my rent myself, but it's still been the same as I would have received, if I hadn't been working.

To be honest, I don't regard my existence as "miserable". It was, of course, harder to live on the amount of Universal Credit than on Pension Credit, but I've never not been able to pay for essentials and have a little left over, which maybe I appreciate more than others. I actually feel a bit sorry for people who have to spend loads of money not to be miserable. I feel sorrier for families who live on or below the breadline for years.

Shinamae

I don’t have a mortgage or rent luckily enough but I do have council tax,gas and electric,well you know all the usual utilities that everyone has… at the moment I am paying back an Overpayment to HMRC of £15 a month and I’ve just started going to the gym which is really helping my mental state and that is £28 a month. I really don’t know how some people would manage on just the state pension if they had rent or mortgage to pay

They receive Pension Credit and, if they pay rent, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support. If they are receiving Pension Credit, there are also a couple of other add-ons, such as free dental care.

Neither do I shinamae. Even with pension credit and whatever other benefits may be available it must be a miserable existence. I do hope you will be able to get that pension topped up to a more realistic figure.

I don’t have a mortgage or rent luckily enough but I do have council tax,gas and electric,well you know all the usual utilities that everyone has… at the moment I am paying back an Overpayment to HMRC of £15 a month and I’ve just started going to the gym which is really helping my mental state and that is £28 a month. I really don’t know how some people would manage on just the state pension if they had rent or mortgage to pay

Growstuff So I did. I told you all my brain's going.

It depends whether you have housing costs Shiname.

Having always done quite menial jobs I have never paid into a private pension scheme. Anyway I am 68 and still working part time in a care home and luckily enough I do love my job but my pension, my state pension, of £652 a month is certainly not enough for me to live on Even though I don’t drink drive or smoke it would just be an existence if i had to manage on that £652..

Dinahmo As you're 74 now, you received your state pension when you were 60, not 65.

I've noticed that several of the GNers on this thread haven't reached pension age yet, ie being younger than 65, the age I was when I received the state Pension.

When I first started work, in the mid sixties it was for large insurance companies where pension schemes existed but you had to have been in their employ for 2 or 3 years before you could join the scheme. After leaving school I had no idea what I wanted to do, apart from leave home which I did. A third of my (gross) salary was used to pay my rent. There was no mention of private pension schemes at that time.

My DH and I bought our first house in 1979. It was a wreck and, for complicated reasons we effectively paid two mortgages. My DH was self employed, as was I during some of the that time. All our spare time and money went into the house. For at least a year we had to visit friends for baths and showers.

In 1982 I joined one of the top 3 accountancy practices and they operated a proper pension scheme, for which I am thankful as it gives me a small pension (about £200 per month). I also had a small number of clients of my own and my DH and I took out a pension plan with Equitable Life and we all know what happened to that.

Throughout our working life we paid into the State system but I always anticipated that our home would eventually pay for social care and I don't have a problem with that.

I'm relating my history because I think that there are probably many like me who didn't know about or couldn't afford to pay into private schemes. Furthermore, there are thousands of people who paid into a pension scheme whose funds disappeared - such as the Mirror Group and BHS - and they have been left without a pension that they had contributed to.

Most people are able to make choices throughout their lives. But some people can't and it is for that reason I am against the cancelling of the triple lock. I'm now 74 and still working. Luckily I enjoy what I do. If I didn't work there are many things that I could no longer afford, such as high quality varifocal lenses or the insulin for my diabetic dog. I worry that my brain is going and at some point I will have to stop work. But there are some people aren't able to continue to work. We should be taking better care of those people.

When I first started work the basic rate of income tax was 35% and the highest rate was 83%. At that time mortgage interest relief and pension premium relief was available at the higher rates. This meant that anyone paying say £1000 to a pension company would in effect pay just £187. Obviously they would pay over the £1000 and get credit for the balance when they settled their annual tax bills. But this is one reason why the elderly rich have such decent pensions.

And to make matters even worse, changes to the social care cap mean that those with relatively low assets will lose almost everything if they need care, while the richest will hardly be affected:

inews.co.uk/news/politics/social-care-cap-change-sneaked-out-by-ministers-will-hit-red-wall-and-protect-the-rich-1306715?fbclid=IwAR1Hf3vcjiX1zXHeFlgBhzQSZX_OXV5SDg84UKzINZWRWS1doOZsesJR_II

The majority of people over 60 voted Conservative in the last election. I remember reading a comment (not sure if it was on GN) that the Conservatives wouldn't dare mess pensioners about because they're their core voters. Well, any over 60s who aren't wealthy and did vote Conservative and believed that, have been conned.

MaizieD

Dickens

Ilovecheese

It seems to be in the Governments interest to pit generations against each other. Otherwise why raise N.I. instead of Income Tax.
If they had kept the triple lock and raised income tax, we would all have been able to contribute.
The triple lock would have been raising the State pension for future generations, and richer pensioners would have paid more in tax.

This is so logical that it's hard to see any other reasoning behind the decision.

Divide and Rule.

...a policy which is intended to keep someone in a position of power by causing disagreements between people who might otherwise unite against them. Ministers will offer inducements to some, in an attempt to divide and rule. (Collins English Dictionary)

Could it be any clearer?

Well, if this is so, doesn't it behove us, as mature adults, to rise above it and fight the government that is inflicting/encouraging intergenerational strife?

... absolutely!

But people need to be convinced, and I'm not sure they are.

I've encountered so many who believe that 'Boris' is "doing his best" to deal with the problems thrown up by the Pandemic and Brexit.

Personally, I believe he's doing his best to make sure he and his party remain in power. I'm not even convinced that any other party would behave differently.

But our ‘one-person-takes-all’ disproportionate voting system is what we've got, the electorate does not seem to want a Proportional or Mixed Voting system. And to remain in power, the elected party will always have to use all or any means to maintain that power. If that means dividing the nation among itself, so be it - that appears to be what people prefer rather than working together across the political divide and doing what is best for the country as a whole.

I was not able to be in the NHS pension scheme because I worked part time. My children were at primary school so I needed to take them in the morning and collect them after school. I was only able to join the scheme when I went full time a few years later. Consequently my pension now is much lower than my husband's. If I was on my own I don't know how I would manage. It was hard work keeping all the balls in the air when I had young children, why should I be worse off because I was a responsible parent.

Dickens

Ilovecheese

It seems to be in the Governments interest to pit generations against each other. Otherwise why raise N.I. instead of Income Tax.
If they had kept the triple lock and raised income tax, we would all have been able to contribute.
The triple lock would have been raising the State pension for future generations, and richer pensioners would have paid more in tax.

This is so logical that it's hard to see any other reasoning behind the decision.

Divide and Rule.

...a policy which is intended to keep someone in a position of power by causing disagreements between people who might otherwise unite against them. Ministers will offer inducements to some, in an attempt to divide and rule. (Collins English Dictionary)

Could it be any clearer?

Well, if this is so, doesn't it behove us, as mature adults, to rise above it and fight the government that is inflicting/encouraging intergenerational strife?