To be angry with people who describe the old age pension as a "benefit"?

I know a couple M59,F55. She has had MS since 17 and never been able to work. Her DH has never been able to take a high-rolling role as it was impossible to arrange caring around it (he has a lot of sympathy with childcare issues. Only as he told me, those issues go away. Caring for someone with a progressive disease only gets more intense).

As a result they've never been able to save into more that the most basic of non-state pensions that will be wiped out when they "retire".

Her condition is now such that her DH can't leave the house. He is a very skilled IT worker but now can only work remotely and given the age and his own progressive disability, that's not happening.

They've already cost the state many times more than they have even been able to pay in.

What is the threads collective verdict on how to deal with this pair ? Especially as you can't use ESA or PIP for flights to Switzerland ?

No. We moved my elderly mother in with us when she was diagnosed with dementia. We couldn’t manage her without a carer coming in every day. I think it’s bullshit to advocate that state support is removed so that family are effectively forced to help with care and left to foot the bill. You clearly have no idea of the time, effort and enormous expense involved in caring for someone with a disability.

You think it is bullshit that a loving close knit family would help with care???

Glad i am not in your family.

Sorry but this is bullshit.

As a retired pensions consultant who spent their entire working life dealing with private pension schemes and State benefits, I have to say your description of how the State pension works is total fantasy.

The Government never entered into any sort of agreement with you.

"Your" pension money was never held "in a securely locked box". It was used to pay the pension instalments for the week in which you paid it.

The State pension is most certainly a State benefit.

You won't like me then as I see the state pension as a benifit that those working today have to fund. Training as a nurse in 1985 it stuck me that there was a demographic time bomb waiting down the line and that the number of pensioners to be funded and needing care would be more than the country can afford. So many of my generation are massively entitled, we are the most well of pensioners ever . I agree there should we safety nets for some ...eg loans against value of home for repairs if income is low.

Not all people have families anyway.

That would be beyond the pale, I admit. We know how much the British love their pets.

They'd want to give pets dodgy diseases, wow.

More pet food ?

People still need to feed their pets.

@SerendipityJane I’m sure Farage has this covered off already !! There doesn’t seem much thought given to those who can’t actually get jobs either at various periods of life, a lot of SAHMs would be totally stuffed or those having to take time out to care for sick partners or parents. My own view is that it will become an ‘add on’ and if you are getting circa £50k from ‘investments/pensions/savings - you won’t get state pension as well -

Not all families can afford to fully support a disabled person for the whole of their lives.

Not at all. I would imagine any decent caring person would want to assist a disabled family member in an emotional and financial capacity. I would question the love and integrity of someone unwilling to do that.
(Obviously the tiny percentage of the popultion with extreme and severe disabilities would need additional care).

As someone who is not allowed to give blood because of my health conditions, are you sure you'd want any of my organs, LOL

It's alright, @Starsandstripes44 and I are working through that. Apparently even poor peoples organs are worth something, so am sure we can cobble together a viable replacement system.

Out of curiosity, what's your blood group ?

You can communicate the message with a daily flypast of the red arrows if you like.

What is your plan for people who - despite all your encouragement - end up with no fucking money ? In the absence on a reply I am assuming your plan is to let them starve to death on the streets. And I want to know what the hell you plan to do when it affects the value of my house ?

I'm quite with you on letting poor people starve to death. I mean that's their own lookout. But why should I have to suffer a lower sale price on my house just because there are a few rotting corpses outside ?

All the people who cannot work at all due to disabilities they are born with wouldnt qualify. They need supporting or they will die. I can see which option you have chosen.

Sure but that is clearly not what has happened wrt the current generation of pensioners. As several people have suggested, it is likely to be gradually withdrawn with those earning more, and arguably working harder, being the losers.
@SerendipityJane is right about rising poverty levels in future imo.

Yes, I'm sure there will be some sort of income cut off made at some point. The problem is that, as with current tax policy, it disincentivises work even more and pushes higher earners to move abroad.

Yes, probably will drag more people into being ineligible due to fiscal drag over time if the threshold doesn't increase with inflation which is what has happened with personal tax free allowance, the H/R threshold, the child benefit and free child care thresholds etc.

@taxguru my suspicion is that the state pension if the future will be more in line with eligibility for universal credit, i.e. only for people without assets or income :(

@taxguru I agree- I think it will be £40k single, £60k joint - however the downside of this is I think people will withdraw larger annual amounts in chunks out of pension funds -

Exactly. It obviously wouldn't happen overnight, but it enough notice was given, then it's perfectly reasonable to move most benefits onto a genuine contributory basis, based entirely on your real earnings from declared work with a more restricted set of criteria for those genuinely unable to work.

There are already precedents in other European countries where things like unemployment benefits are based on your prior working history and restricted for relatively short periods of time.

We even saw it to an extent with Covid Furlough which was based on declared prior earnings for workers (yes, it had many faults due to Rishi botching it, but the general principle was there!).

If the message is communicated clearly unambiguously there is no room for misunderstanding. Whether you are a CEO or flip burgers you qualify. What's is wrong with that??