What do with think will be in Labour’s budget?

People not on PC can apply for HB too.

It still doesn’t make them better off than any other pensioner on a state pension alone. Of course there’s an entitlement to housing benefit at any age on a low enough income. Working people claim it too.

@Badbadbunny

It's why I keep saying we need to scrap NIC and raise income tax instead.

Labour did the opposite. Between 200,000 and 276,000 people lost their jobs.

If they earned the UK average salary, that’s a drop in tax receipts of £1.4 billion. If they all claim job seekers allowance, that costs the government another £1.2 billion. Total £2.8 billion.

most pensioners don’t have housing costs anyway as they own their homes outright.

Many people seem to have a lot of contempt for elderly homeowners.

"Approximately, 137,480 (37.0%) of care home residents were classified as self-funders, compared with approximately 234,555 (63.0%) state-funded residents"

Lifted directly from the lasted ONS figures for 2022-2023

Owning your own home still incurs costs like maintenance, repairs and modifications. And it’s homeowners who often have had to sell said home, along with other self-funders, who get to pay care home fees (around 40% higher) than a council funded resident. 40% higher for the same bed and services.

Yes. And?

@TemperanceWest

They may be contributing in other ways, providing child care so parents can go out to work, they may be unpaid carers to friends or family, saving the state money, volunteering etc.

Sorry, I missed this post. It’s very pertinent. Many grandparents look after their grandchildren so that parents don’t have to pay extortionate child care fees (UK average £12K per year per child. Hence, making going to work possible and worthwhile.

Being carers (average £20/hr) is also a big help.

I'm sure I recently saw an advert which said something about apply for pension credit as it can unlock up to £4k in other benefits, how is that fair when people with a few £ more get nothing.

What about the other stuff, free TV licence for example

You have to be 75 for that.

They don't get that free until 75+.

Everyone over 75 used to get a free TV licence but that stopped a few years ago and only those on pension credit do now.

As more and more people qualify for the full new State Pension in the coming years, there will eventually be very few on PC. I hope that eases your mind.

Apparently no longer correct.

75 is an interesting age.

From next year, it’s also the age where your loved ones could end up paying a marginal rate of up to circa 87p in every £1 in tax on any unused pension you leave them.

Updated to reflect it is no longer correct.

The UK is a shambles. Genuinely sad to see.

Energy independence, secure borders and sound monetary & fiscal policy should be the absolute minimum we accept.

Labour are either unable or unwilling.

Agree with you there.

I just forked out 6k to fix a roof leak. No housing costs my arse.

@dustabsorber

I just forked out 6k to fix a roof leak. No housing costs my arse.

My retired parents paid £22K for a new roof on their two bedroom bungalow semi in 2022. It would have been more if their next door neighbour had not replaced theirs at the same time.

Those on benefits living in property owned by private landlords won’t ever see those costs.

You cant possibly have. Everyone know that once a house is paid off there are no more associated costs. 🙄

Not great news for the incumbents….

UK consumer confidence suffered an “extraordinary collapse” in October, wiping out three months of gains as surging energy prices, rising borrowing costs and uncertainty ahead of the Budget weighed on household morale.

The GfK consumer confidence index — which measures how people view their personal finances and broader economic prospects — plummeted 11 points to minus 24 this month, the research group said on Friday.

It marked the largest monthly drop since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, matching the fall recorded after the Brexit referendum in 2016. The decrease also reversed the gains that followed Andy Burnham’s arrival in Downing Street in July and took the index to its lowest level since April.

When is Labour going to wake up and get its priorities right? This collapse in confidence is not a blip. It is the bill arriving for them prioritising everything except the prosperity of the people it governs, and that no longer seems to understand what prosperity even requires.

@NorthXNorthWest

You cant possibly have. Everyone know that once a house is paid off there are no more associated costs.

There are ongoing upkeep costs such as:

Replace light bulbs
Replace worn out carpet
Replace appliances
Boiler service and repair and replacement when they become beyond repair
Keep gutters clean

The list could on

I’m lucky to own a house and the maintenance is off the scale. This year it was the garden , the guttering , we need the loft boarded out and that’s taken 20 years to get round to. I am not complaining, but the idea you sit back all smug is ridiculous as places fall apart without money being used to keep it going and boilers have a short shelf life and cost a fortune to replace.
My parents always rented and my in laws and they could have fair amount done by the council. There are always ‘swings and roundabouts’ isn’t there.

Yup, renters never see the true cost of house ownership. You really can’t ignore house maintenance/renewals, etc. Well you can, but then you end up with the kind of house sold at auction on TV property porn shows where everything needs doing!

This is crazy, when seen against bus policy notifications that we’re all meant to be happy with.

The survey is about the economy, not people being noisy on buses.

Well yeh. Not sure why that needs a post. Obviously. We also have a PM focusing on buses.