AIBU to wonder why a pensioner struggling financially would not use housing equity?

And all what you say is fine.
However they should not be entitled to any benefits above the pension if they have money (equity) that they don’t want to dip into.
It’s no different to having a £100k ISA and saying you don’t want to start cashing it in.

Equity Release comes with lifetime tenancy, no one is getting kicked out of their house.

Yes
I wouldn’t want to (and won’t have to because we are not leaving retirement in the hands of just the state) but I could.

Anyone can if they have a fully paid off house that isn’t too big for one person.

Yes it might be harder (with council tax) if it was a 4 bed detached, but the state pension is calculated on what one person needs not what they want.

And if I was heading towards pension age with only the state pension as an option I would put myself on a housing and transport situation in good time to accommodate that.

Not get in that position and whinge to BBC reporters that I deserve more more more for me me me

I have a 7 bedroom hous and if love to downsize to a 4 bedroom but DH won't hear of it. He has a large double garage and large garden and he sadly won't give up those. My adult DC have even offered to go through the garages and his shed and help him to move it all but DH is very stubborn and says he likes our home and doesn't want to move.

Iceland shoppers

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/iceland-launches-new-service-help-37245992

That was true for my mum too. Wouldn't have her lights or heating on. Didn't eat properly. Would get a taxi to make shopping easier, wouldn't hire a cleaner or gardeners. I guess she was keeping it just in case in her mind

Iceland & food warehouse
Every Tuesday
10% off for over 60s on shopping
Plus
If you use an Iceland bonus card, you receive £1 back for every £20 added onto the card

They also have a benefits helpline

Not quite as small as you think and for someone who's worked their whole life a whopping £3 per week more than someone on pension credit who hasn't.

Thank you!

Equity release is a con.

Well you're a charmer. 😶

She could sell and downside but nooooo her 'memoriessssssssssss' with a wail

I agree. The whole concept of 'memories' about a house is utterly bizarre and even worse when people are hanging onto said house that they can't afford to live in and/or can't manage because of this.

I’m with you OP but it very much depends on what the house is worth - it’s easy here in the south to forget that a £450k semi here might only be £180k back in my original home town - otherwise post 75 I say it’s far preferable to living in misery if you don’t want to move.
equity release comes in many ways these days - including drawing down an income - here’s an example below based on 15 years drawing £400 a month ( which could make all the difference to a lady like this) - now if your house is worth £250k plus - if this was my mother I would want her to do it - I think the reason many don’t is the fear of care bills but to be frank unless you’ve got a hefty asset or zillions in the bank - as things stand it’s going to be an issue for vast amounts of the population- so I would rather work on the ‘now’

If you drew £400 a month for 15 years through an equity release drawdown lifetime mortgage starting at age 77, your total debt at age 92 would be between £120,121 and £125,145, assuming typical 2026 fixed interest rates of 6.5% to 7.0% AER. 1, 2]
Over the 15-year period, you will have personally received a total of £72,000 in cash, meaning the compounding interest "cost" rolled up on top of your loan will total £48,121 to £53,145.

Could you live on £1000 per month?

That’s all well and good but if you have to sell then you have to sell. It’s called reality. You don’t get special dispensation for being older.

If the elderly person has a spare room they can rent this out up to approx 7K per year tax free

If elderly person has health issues she can apply for attendance allowance, which is not means tested

Sell & downsize

Apply for over 60s discounts & benefits

Empathy isn't your strong long then?

I sold my parents house. It was hard, but if I had to sell my marital home, the one I have spent 39 years in, it will be harder than selling one I never lived in. My parents had 5 different homes. My husband and I plus our children have had one.

That woman sounds like my own mother, poor me, I have nothing, nobody gives me anything. Wailing and balling about how hard it is to be a pensioner when she never worked a day in her bloody life. We are in Ireland so not sure the rules there but she gets almost the full pension here despite working maybe 3 months out of her 80 years. No mortgage as she inherited a house valued at circa 800keuro. She could sell and downside but nooooo her 'memoriessssssssssss' with a wail. It is not that, it is because the ONLY control the old crone has left is 'inheritance and the will' and while my siblings are sticking around purely for a payout I have a feeling she CANT sell cos then we will all know the stipulations of her getting said house and thats her control GONE.

What I would not give to be an (Irish) pensioner with no mortgage or other bills bar heating etc which all of us have to pay, getting I think around approx 288euro per week all for me myself and I. Also theres a living alone benefit to claim and other things PLUS you can rent out your rooms that you dont need especially in my mothers case as nobody visits her anymore. That is a seriously bigger amount than I as a single parent with a mortgage, kids and a full time job are pulling in.

Cry me a fucking river.

My neighbour has just moved to a bungalow for the same price as her own house, so it will have cost her to move. I assume because of upkeep and heating.
There are cheaper/smaller bungalows but she still wanted lots of bedrooms (her family don’t stay but she forever stays in hope clearly).

All that woman’s money is spent on petrol. I’m out quite a bit and I put in £40 every 2 weeks. She should stop driving and get a big shop delivered to fill her cupboards and reduce the amount of times she needs to drive out of the village.
Shes the equivalent of my BIL complaining about being skint and buying takeaway 4 nights in a week.

They make a good point about her driving and petrol... I spend about £60 a week on petrol and that gets me to Devon and back from the Midlands (don't ask...). That's a 450 mile round trip plus doing my local shopping and going to the post office 2-3x per week.

Where the hell is she shopping and why is she driving so much?? Or what is she driving and why hasn't she noticed the ridiculous fuel leak that she must have.

It doesn’t surprise me to learn that you pay income tax. With the vast amount of pension provision that today’s pensioners have they should be paying more taxes in my view. And there is a big difference between “ageism” and just basic reality. Younger people are sick and tired of so much of the rhetoric being focused upon “poor” pensioners when in the vast majority of cases pensioners have more money and assets than any other demographic. That is a statistical fact. And a lot of it was simply down to chance, yet we are constantly told how hard they’ve all worked as if the rest of us are sitting about twiddling our thumbs.

It's just speculation on your part and rather unpleasant too

I would expect your mother is the exception rather than the rule, my mum worked all her adult life until retirement age as did all my friend's mums and so did I and all my female friends. Of course we can only relate to our own lives but all I have known is working and having a work ethic