Pensions ,Prescriptions & Racheal Reeve’s

Jane43

Doodledog

Agreed, Casdon. I would raise the personal tax allowance to £20k and the eligibility for PC to £15k.

Do you mean raise the tax personal allowance to £20 thousand foe everybody. This would mean a huge tax revenue loss to the Treasury, although it is desirable it isn’t sustainable. Raising the eligibility for pension credit to £15 thousand is more realistic.

But if the tax allowance didn't increase people on PC would pay tax. What's the point of that?

What is the GN definition of wealthy please?

What income would a pensioner have to be receiving to be thought of by posters as a wealthy pensioner?

Apparently, younger people with an income of up to £100,000 are struggling and deserve help with childcare costs so what are the criteria?

I thought the term wealthy applied to those with income and assets in the millions or billions.

Doodledog

Agreed, Casdon. I would raise the personal tax allowance to £20k and the eligibility for PC to £15k.

Do you mean raise the tax personal allowance to £20 thousand foe everybody. This would mean a huge tax revenue loss to the Treasury, although it is desirable it isn’t sustainable. Raising the eligibility for pension credit to £15 thousand is more realistic.

Agreed, Casdon. I would raise the personal tax allowance to £20k and the eligibility for PC to £15k.

Ilovecheese

So she should have just taxed the wfa, not stopped it altogether and thrown away all that political capital.

The wealthiest pensioners would still get money they don’t need if WFA was taxed, so no. Raising the personal tax allowance and increasing eligibility to pension credit would benefit those who need help the most.

So she should have just taxed the wfa, not stopped it altogether and thrown away all that political capital.

paddyann54

David49 you obviously live in a different part of the UK than I do,most pensioners here are on low incomes.We are in an area of deprivation after all the big ,wel paying businesses closed decades ago.Theres really only hospitality based jobs and supermarkets.The town centres have charity shops bookies and pubs that are only open two days a week Millionaires are fewer than hens teeth .My friend of 55 years has just over the limit for PC so has to survive on a pittance she is a two time an er survives and has early onset dementia,there are many many more just like her here.Across the country I would suggest there are more than you can imagine .Taking away what is a paltry sum in the scheme of things is unecessary and cruel.There is already snow on the high hills around us the winter will only get colder .Why aren’t they chasing the BILLIONS handed out to the likes of Mone and Dido Harding? Or has that been split between the cabinet and paid onto offshore accounts?

I agree with you, paddyann that people like your friend should get WFA - without a doubt the threshold for getting PC should be higher (as should the threshold for paying tax).

But there are many pensioners who won't struggle as a result of not getting the payment, and it's maddening to hear them talk one minute about their holiday in Monte Carlo and their new kitchen, and the next about how awful it is that the government has 'stolen' their two hundred quid. A few days after the announcement I was with two people who did just that, whilst we were in a nice restaurant having just spent £40 each on lunch.

paddyann54

David49 you obviously live in a different part of the UK than I do,most pensioners here are on low incomes.We are in an area of deprivation after all the big ,wel paying businesses closed decades ago.Theres really only hospitality based jobs and supermarkets.The town centres have charity shops bookies and pubs that are only open two days a week Millionaires are fewer than hens teeth .My friend of 55 years has just over the limit for PC so has to survive on a pittance she is a two time an er survives and has early onset dementia,there are many many more just like her here.Across the country I would suggest there are more than you can imagine .Taking away what is a paltry sum in the scheme of things is unecessary and cruel.There is already snow on the high hills around us the winter will only get colder .Why aren’t they chasing the BILLIONS handed out to the likes of Mone and Dido Harding? Or has that been split between the cabinet and paid onto offshore accounts?

👏👏👏👏

GrannyGravy13

There has been a trend for many, many years to leak proposed budget changes/cuts to get the measure of public response.

Unfortunately the current cohort appear to be exceptionally inept at ^reading the room^

In fact, just like the last cohort!

David49 you obviously live in a different part of the UK than I do,most pensioners here are on low incomes.We are in an area of deprivation after all the big ,wel paying businesses closed decades ago.Theres really only hospitality based jobs and supermarkets.The town centres have charity shops bookies and pubs that are only open two days a week Millionaires are fewer than hens teeth .My friend of 55 years has just over the limit for PC so has to survive on a pittance she is a two time an er survives and has early onset dementia,there are many many more just like her here.Across the country I would suggest there are more than you can imagine .Taking away what is a paltry sum in the scheme of things is unecessary and cruel.There is already snow on the high hills around us the winter will only get colder .Why aren’t they chasing the BILLIONS handed out to the likes of Mone and Dido Harding? Or has that been split between the cabinet and paid onto offshore accounts?

MaizieD

^In 1980 our small house cost £40,000 and at the time our income was ⅕th of that; the interest rate was 14% so that needs to be part of the equation too.^

You did very well from your mortgage company, then, because at that time it was more usual for the maximum mortgage to be offered to be 3x salary. No wonder you struggled to pay it...

I bought my first house in 1973, the mortgage was 3 x main salary plus 1 year salary for the other partner or 2.5 times joint salaries. I suppose it varied.

Reeves is not targeting pensioners she is targeting those that don’t need handouts, many of those are over pension age many/most don’t need handouts

NI contributions have fallen way behind cost it needs to change either reduce service or increase tax a lot

The stated policy is for Tax receipts to cover day to day spending including interest payments of £90bn

I hope they achieve that aim

More than happy to pay for prescriptions if it will pay for 6,500 extra doctors or even a fraction of that number.
I don't think so.

NotSpaghetti

I never understood why prescriptions are free at 60.
Why?

Indeed, same here. Why should over 60 multi-millionaires get free prescriptions? Or anyone with a an income of over 150k, for instance.

The WFA is not paid to all British pensioners abroad at all, including those living in Spain and France. The rules changed a while ago.
For the facts, rather than gossip go to the horses mouth:
www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/if-you-live-abroad

The cap on the lifetime allowance on pension pots was scrapped by Jeremy Hunt in 2023, Labour said they would reintroduce the cap if they won the election. It’s old news.

Allira

We'd already had a mortgage with them and were able to commute some of a pension fund to afford a bigger deposit.
It was a necessary move.

The parameters are shifting then. I'm in no way saying you had it hard or not, as it's none of my business and not relevant, but comparing what is a very untypical situation to the norm for large numbers of young people is disingenuous, surely?

Pippa000

I never understood why if you were still working when you got to pension age, you stopped paying NI. personally I, and my later hubby, would have been very happy to continued paying this until we stopped work.

Well, I wouldn’t
I am 71 working for minimum wage in a high dementia care home..(part time)

Wyllow3

😂 here we go, "rumour has it".....

"I've heard that"

"I read that"

Well you all fell for Labour’s assurances that they would look after our older people and what did they do?

Nothing is guaranteed in these crazy times.

We'd already had a mortgage with them and were able to commute some of a pension fund to afford a bigger deposit.
It was a necessary move.

In 1980 our small house cost £40,000 and at the time our income was ⅕th of that; the interest rate was 14% so that needs to be part of the equation too.

You did very well from your mortgage company, then, because at that time it was more usual for the maximum mortgage to be offered to be 3x salary. No wonder you struggled to pay it...

Jane43

Allira

Many younger people (check out Mumsnet) who have crippling mortgages, low wages and high childcare costs can see no reason why people of all income levels should get a benefit to pay their fuel bills, or why people of working age should get free prescriptions based purely on age when younger people have to pay for them.

I can understand that point of view BUT the crux of the matter is that the WFA being taken away from the majority of pensioners means a reduction in income. How many other groups are having a reduction in their salaries or wages?
That is what is unfair.

Crippling mortgages? Oh yes, I remember those in the 1980s.

The winter fuel has never been a part of the state pension so cannot be considered income. How many other groups have had a rise in their incomes of 18.5% since 2023.

In 1983 the average house price was £25,500 and the average salary was £8,500, a factor of 3; in 2023 the average house price was £285,000 and the average salary was £35,000, a factor of 8. In addition until 2000 tax relief could be claimed on mortgage payments. There is no question which group had it hardest where house purchase is concerned.

👏🏻 Thank goodness for some realism.

I know it was hard in the 80s - we bought our first house in 1979 and interest rates shot up. When we bought the next one in 1989 it happened again. We fixed at 16% as we had 2 babies soon after buying house 2, and were scared that the climbing rates would rise further - not our finest financial decision, it has to be said. Yes, it was hard. We lived in an area of high unemployment, too, and that threat hung over us through the Thatcher years and beyond.

Does that mean I want 'payback' from a generation that wasn't even born when that happened? Of course not. I don't understand the vindictive attitude that 'we had to put up with this, so so should they'. In any case, regardless of interest rates, saving for a deposit is much harder when a house costs so much, and more so when you have student debt and are also paying someone else's mortgage in rent.

Young people are the ones now paying into the system that older people take out of. I'm not saying that we shouldn't all get what we were promised (ie a pension commensurate with our contributions) but the WFP was an extra - never a right - and free prescriptions were introduced as a concession to pensioners, which people between 60 and 66 (which includes me) are not.

This was quite funny.
metro.co.uk/2024/10/07/tories-criticised-pensioner-seen-wearing-17k-rolex-winter-fuel-video-21748871/

The main difference between a young couple and retired couple Doodledog is that the young couple can work, change jobs, get promotion, move etc.

The options for many retired people are limited. We have all had the high mortgages, childcare costs, juggling work when we were young, fit and able.

Once retired if one had made what was thought as adequate provision for retirement and along comes a new Government changing the rules there is little scope to earn more money, move etc.

Sorry, but what has that got to do with stopping free prescriptions for those between 60 and 66/67? That is now working age, annoyingly. I absolutely agree that changing the pension age without due notice had huge repercussions for many women (and their partners) but that is a separate issue.

I also realise that many older people are less able to get promotions than those 'in their prime', but don't let's pretend that that is an option for all young people either? People on minimum wage, with exploitative rents and high childcare costs are not usually the ones on mapped out career paths (if such things exist anymore). The ones who have careers instead of jobs are more likely to have mortgages, and are more likely to be able to absorb childcare costs (eg via salary sacrifice or workplace creches). I just don't understand why people seem to think that two people of working age should have different allowances. Allowances for people with <£X coming in, or who have certain medical conditions, but why choose an age at which people no longer pay, regardless of circumstances?

In any case, it is speculation. I read an article in i, which is speculating about the tax-free lump sum being cut from £250k or thereabouts, and conflating that with the WFP, to say that 'pensioners who are already struggling thanks to the cut in WFP will now have to face not being able to take £250k out of their pension pots' (I paraphrase).

Come on. If someone can withdraw £250,000 (which means they still have £750k left) can anyone really say with a straight face that they will struggle as a result of not getting an extra £200 on their state pension? It's all propaganda.

I do too Wyllow3, although I understand her reasons for stepping back.