To think all the targeted pensioner benefits ie bus pass, TV and winter fuel should be abolished...

[Figmentofmyimagination]

.... And the equivalent amount added to the pension credit of low income pensioners. That would overcome the logistical/cost based arguments against means testing these benefits.

There a plenty of pensioners who wouldn't fall within the 'low income' category but aren't exactly well off and who benefit and rely on free travel etc. the ones who have paid into the pot all their working lives and this is the only 'benefit' they will get in their lifetime. yabu

In todays news ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31580520

Universal benefits for pensioners will once again be protected if the Conservatives win May's general election, David Cameron will say later.

Mr Cameron promised at the 2010 election not to introduce means testing for benefits such as bus passes, TV licences and the winter fuel allowance.

In a speech, he will repeat that pledge for the next Parliament.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have said they would remove some benefits from better-off pensioners.

"In 2010, I looked down the barrel of the camera and made a clear commitment to the British people that I would keep these things," Mr Cameron will say.

"And that wasn't a commitment for five years - it was a commitment for as long as I was prime minister."

He will add: "If you've worked hard during your life, saved, paid your taxes, done the right thing, you deserve dignity when you retire.

"These people have fought wars, seen us through recessions - made this the great country it is today.

"They brought us into the world and cared for us, and now it's our turn - our fundamental duty - to care for them."

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said: "The decision follows the announcement earlier this month by the chancellor that the amount of money set aside for pensioner bonds was to be extended, fuelling claims that the Conservatives are deliberately targeting older voters - because they are more likely to vote."

Universal benefits for older people include free prescriptions and eye tests.

No many of those who are existing are actually paying out more than they can afford and hoping that they die before it runs out.

is it just me thinking that if David Cameron says pensioners are safe they should be thinking 'uh-oh'. Remember when he said disabled families would be safe....
The majority of pensioners havent fought in wars. My mum is 80 and was 4 when the War started. Never worked (apart from raising children), no pension and gets well over 500 quid a week in PTC, AA and Housing Benefit. She has more coming in that your average family!

YANBU. Competely agree.

I can't see any way in which rich pensioners "deserve" extra money & freebees thrown at them.

God he's a knob man.. I can't bear to watch him speak.

They might be okay for now until they get in again bit if he gets in and does more damage he'll be sure he won't get in again in the next big one so pensioners should enjoy it while it lasts imo.

Not being at the point of needing income support or whatever it's called, doesn't make a person rich.

YABU. The only thing I would withdraw if I were in charge would be the winter fuel allowance for expats who are living elsewhere in Europe.

If you stick to means tested/ pension credit all you are doing - as usual - is rewarding people who have never bothered to save or didn't work. Those who have paid into a private pension all their lives, and had to go without other things to do so get nothing, while their peers who have sat back and expected other people to pay everything for them get it all handed to them on a plate.

I doubt there are many "rich" pensioners and I hate the attitude on here that envies every little scrap some other group gets.

Pensioners are the only group of people not being treated like shit, other than the very rich. I'm a long way from my pension but I want these benefits kept. I'd rather we treated more vulnerable people like we do pensioners than take something off them because it's shit for everyone else. I know not every pensioner is vulnerable however extra healthcare, heating payments and a bus pass is hardly gold plated toilets and I find it reassuring we as a country as still doing something to help our older citizens.

I know both rich and poor pensioners - the richer ones agree with me that the heating allowance & bus pass etc should be means tested somehow.

My great gran inlaw is a millionaire with more properties than I can count on my hands and she still gets it.
She actually complained that she didn't get the winter fuel allowance for her holiday home...

YABU The fact is that many of these pensioners grew up in or just after the second world war. They have a make do and save mentality. If you remove these benefits many will cut back on fuel / travel. The impact on mental & physical health would cost far more.

YABU.

Which group has the most voters?

Not another "rich pensioner" bashing thread.

It's been less than a week since the last one.

I have no earthly idea why these things are not means tested. Even non-dom pensioners are entitled to the fuel allowance. Shocking.

It makes me really cross. I get it would be difficult to organise but they manage it essy enough with the bedroom tax etc..

To be fair i don't agree with the op - they should just be means tested.

Not another "rich pensioner" bashing thread

must be the week for them - they alternate with baby boomer hating threads

It's because pensioners vote more regularly than people in other age brackets. They turn out even if it's pissing down with rain on polling day.
That's why anyone would be daft to listen to Russell Brand's self-disenfranchising bullshit; if the young voted in larger numbers, then they wouldn't be continually shat on by government.

why is it shocking that non dom pensioners get the allowance? My father retired to spain. After working his whole adult life and contributing in the UK. Believe it or not, is does get cold and wet in winter in spain. why the hell shouldn't he get the allowance?

Doing some rough calculations on my fingers, I've worked out that you would have to be at least 87 to have been able to fight in WWII (based on being 17 in 1944). That's not very many pensioners. Or perhaps David Cameron means Korea?

There are plenty of ex servicemen of under pensionable age who fought in the Falklands, Afghanistan etc. who don't get treated very well when they fall on hard times.....

Clearly it is a policy that gets them pensioner votes.
It must be hard work trying to justify it in any other way.

I'm inclined not believe anything that falls out of David Camerons gob.

I don't know of that many wealthy old folk either. My Mum isn't and she would miss the winter fuel payments for sure if they were abolished. As it is now she only heats the room she's sitting in as she dreads the bills being too high.

Doing away with the free buss pass wouldn't do her any favours either.

So If those things were abolished she'd be stuck in a freezing cold house as she can't afford to go out either.

Might as well be dead!

Maybe means-test for the top percentage that really really really wouldn't miss it.

But there are lots of people who did work hard and did save so that they could be a few quid above the poverty line, and it genuinely isn't fair to penalise those people.