To think we can't afford the triple lock

Absolutely the triple lock should go its a disgrace. Why should pensioners be guaranteed a higher rise in income than people who are working for their pay?
And if all pensioners are given a tax break on their state pension then ANYONE whose income doesnt exceed the same level should be getting the same tax allowance!! Also scrap NI and roll it into general tax. Then ANYONE paying tax- including pensioners - pay it.

Do you hate pensioners in real life @frozendaisy? You are making some very unpleasant posts.

thank you!

Quite a mix really, some do, some don't. It was like that back in the day when I started in the 80s, and quite a few firms that our DS looked at when he was looking a few years did the same, i.e. different channels. In my second firm, the entire audit department was made up of graduates doing the ICAEW exams whereas the tax and incomplete records department were wholly school leavers doing ACCA or AAT - that was a pretty "small" firm in the big scheme of things with around 50 staff. It was a very definite divide. Certainly a couple of our local "one office" firms did exactly the same according to their "recruitment pages" on their websites. For some reason, tax and incomplete records seems to still be looked down upon whereas audit is still the "top" department where the graduates go to. I know not all firms are like that, but it still seems to be a trend, especially among the more old school "chartered accountant" firms - the more modern ones look to be a little more progressive and flexible.

We’re more talking of the likes of my MIL. Recently started getting her pension inc state pension after teaching for 40 years and her combined income is about £40k. Just an ordinary class teacher. You’d need a defined contribution pot of £600-£800k on retirement to replicate that btw. Average retirement DC pot is about £130k…

People still catch and die from covid, just like they still catch and die from lots of others such as c-diff, norovirus, etc. It's not gone away. We have a mix of vaccinations and people who've got immunity from prior infection, but some are still vulnerable, some still immunocompromised at high risk, some couldn't have the vaccination, for some, the vaccinations didn't work, etc. It certainly didn't "finish 5 years ago".

Given that you worked in education, I'm assuming your user name has deliberate spelling mistake? Or is optomist a reference to something?

If you read the title of the thread it's about whether the triple lock is affordable as opposed to whether or not people should get state pensions.

The vast majority of people on this thread and probably in real life agree with the idea/concept of state pensions.

The debate is more around how much they should be, and whether the current method of calculating them is unaffordable when projected into the future.

That must be the big firms but doesn't happen with all firms.

I seem to be getting on this thread the idea that as a tax payer for 45 year I am not entitled to a pension? I some ways it is indicated as wrong for me to even consider receiving a state pension in additiion to a (small) private one?

I've worked for 43 years, mainly in education. I think it about time that I got some payback.

Why should we still take precautions? COVID finished like what over 5 years ago

Any "tax code" is pointless for state pension as it's not paid via a PAYE scheme. Hence why state pensions are usually "coded out" in PAYE codes for other occupational pensions or employments. There is simply no mechanism for tax codes or collection of tax via the state pension.

A lot of people qualify - uni or school leaver - then they specialise in say insolvency.

What I've noticed when looking at bigger firms is that they have different "channels" though. I.e. usually school leavers go into tax and/or certified accountancy whereas graduates tend to go into audit or insolvency or other specialisms.

The precautions were to protect hospitals, until the vaccine stopped covid from hospitalising quite so many middle-aged people, at which point the precautions were wound down. Without them, we would have had things like pregnant women with no maternity department to go to.

In fact, during the acute phase of the pandemic, the most elderly people (and some disabled people) were treated essentially as having DNRs, with unavoidably rationed hospital care being given to younger and middle-aged people more likely to recover.

If protecting old or vulnerable people had ever been the main goal, we would still be taking the precautions, because they're all still at greater risk of dying from covid. But we're not, because it wasn't ever the main goal.

Yes, this is true. There are always exceptions of course, but the lockdowns were mainly to protect older people and the negative impacts (lost education and socialisation) are mainly being felt by the young.

Giving an NT (No Tax) tax code for pensioners whose sole income is the state pension is a simple & sensible course of action. It means they won't need to submit a tax return & as they are the poorest pensioners having a few extra quid tax free is a bonus

I do accept what you are saying. We have 2 children with young families who are high earners but don’t have any spare money. I do think that many people think it was easier a generation ago. As I said up thread, I became a SAHP because I couldn’t find childcare and my husband had to take a job working away from home to find the extra money. He was in a senior professional job but we still couldn’t afford things. I remember cutting the lawn with shears. Yes things got better. The difference is we didn’t think we were hard up. So as I pointed out, as well as a good salary, to live a certain lifestyle you need money in the bank.
Back to the thread. I think it is time for the triple lock to go.

Even when they are the one paying for benefits?

Well that's the ideal but all member states would have to agree and it seems unlikely.

Yes, aside for the assault on liberty, the worldwide and UK overreaction to COVID is a significant contributor to the mess we now find ourselves in.

Oh, me too.

Urgh. I am just trying to illustrate, at a high level, why middle- high income earners are the frogs being boiled alive. I don't want the violins out, but I'm trying to display facts of the housing/mortgage/tax/childcare budget that perhaps are not considered when people talk of £100k earners like that should be the level of state pension or something.

That money was spent to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed by sick older people and leaving no capacity for younger people to be treated for non COVID problems.

You seem to have forgotten this.

Yes but this upwardly mobile working population will be saving money to help their children out with university costs, house purchases etc. Just as we have done and the cycle is repeated.