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.

And who has savings? I don't, what are they? Oh yeah those little piggy banks of loose change that start to build up slowly to something substantial but end up getting dipped into when something breaks or some other shit occurs to take them away.

I am not going to be a wealthy pensioner but hopefully I will not be a poor pensioner either. my concern with these types of reforms is the attitude of spending whilst young and not saving as there is no point as you would be better off poor. There are those who are never in a position to save but those who can the question would be why should I? leading to more requiring benefit than before reforms.

Of course just being of pensionable age doesn't automatically mean you actually "worked hard, saved, paid your taxes and [did] the right thing" at all. Some did, some didn't, as with every age group

Mrs- yes, but no political party is proposing to remove these benefits from pensioners who aren't well off- just the ones who are!

My parents and all their social circle are what I would consider to be very comfortably off- but this is in large part due to the fact that they're in the SE, so have enjoyed well paid jobs with good pensions, and are now sitting on an enormous pile of equity in the form of their house, so are able to spend their inheritance from my grandma on their 4 holidays a year. Normally, it doesn't bother me, but I do think that boasting to me about spending their winter fuel allowance on wine is a tad insensitive (I am not well off).

kim my dad was born in 1944 too! I did once ask him if he was born in a bomb shelter (in London) and he gave me a funny look and said "No....the maternity hospital!" .

The problem with means-testing is that it's incredibly expensive to make work, and whatever savings you might make are eaten up in administration costs. Also, many people would simply not get the benefit they are entitled to.

Universal benefits work.

Just to clarify ...by "universal benefits" I don't mean the newfangled system coming in, I mean the idea that everyone gets the benefit, regardless of income.

I agree cingo. Rather than adding more and more complexity and admin costs by increasing the number of means tested benefits, wouldn't it be better to have more universal benefits and refine the income tax system?

YANBU.
Pension benefits should be means tested with the poorest getting the most.

The government had no difficulties in implementing means testing of child benefit, did they?

Which, if you have two children is an unbelievably generous £34 per week.

Surely seniors are already means tested for something, somewhere? Can't you just re-use that?

I am a pensioner living in Spain getting only the basic British pension and WFA which adds about 4 euros a week to my income. I have worked all my life mostly in care related jobs, have paid taxes and NI as a single person to pay, for example, for schools, maternity care and child welfare programmes despite never having children, et etc.

I am not entitled to any pension top ups which I would get if I lived in UK. I cannot see why I should not recieve WFA. I have paid for it. I have worked for it. It gets cold in Spain aand heating is absolutely necessary, especially as one gets older and less mobile, or has health problems.

I hope the benefits stay. If the free bus passes get taken away it will mean empty buses and those people borderline fit to drive will keep their cars.

WFA especially should stay I remember the days when old people couldn't afford to heat their houses and tragically some died.

I think most pensioners have lived through some hard times and generally worked hard and deserve a break.
I too am not a fan of , nor trust DC.

The rich pensioners are no doubt paying lots of tax and will pay a lot more into the system than they get out. Means-testing is expensive. It's cheaper to leave the system the way it is.

Recent figures show that the cost of living has risen more steeply for pensioners than any other group. They haven't benefited from the drop in oil prices, because they buy less petrol.

If you've given up driving, you rely on public transport and are hit by fare increases. (It would cost me over £10 to get from the suburbs to central London without my Freedom Pass.) To get to the shops, or the station, it's 2 buses. Pensioners often can't walk as far as younger people, particularly with shopping.

If you're at home all day, your heating bills are obviously higher.

Pensioners are on a fixed income. Many have relied on income from savings to pay big bills, like house maintenance, insurance etc. This income has dropped dramatically because of low interest rates. Dentistry is a major expense when your teeth start falling out, and there are no pensioner discounts.

Only the very poorest pensioners get benefits. There are very few rich pensioners. The vast majority in the middle would certainly notice if their benefits were taken away.

I agree with universal benefits and am against the changes in child benefit. But at least you have a choice about increasing your family. There's no choice about getting old.

Does anything these perks will be still available when my generation (40 yr old) become pensioners?
I very much doubt it.

I'm with the op.
Means test it.

There would be no point in giving pensioners around these parts free bus passes; there are no busses.

YABU

Universal benefits are a good thing, they give everyone the chance to feel invested in the system they have to pay into.

Not being eligible for pension credit doesn't make a pensioner wealthy, same as being just over the cut off for FSMs doesn't make a family wealthy.

If there is any time in life that the state should support everyone, it's when they're old and in declining health. Pensioners deserve more support then children, as they don't have two working age adults to be responsible for them. If were going to scrap any benefits, it should be child related ones.

JMO, but what todays speech was all about ( was listening on the radio) was making sure that the Tories do not lose the so called 'grey vote' ( awful term) I wouldn't trust what he says myself, but those he was addressing probably will. I think these benefits should be means tested - but I also see the argument that they have paid in all their lives too ( my own dad is 93 and still pays tax on his private pension, full rates and council rent) he would probably lose out if it were means tested.. its a tough call, I really can see both sides to this argument. I think it will be a brave government that does it - its an awful lot of people to upset.!!

There'd be even fewer buses if it weren't for free pensioner travel.

Warm, active pensioners save the NHS money. And I know quite a few who are travelling to care for elderly dp's and look after dgc. My mother would have had to go into a home if it hadn't been for visits from me. Travel for that would have cost me £1,000 p.a. without my Freedom Pass.

ihate - what a nasty attitude. Why should they have it when I'm not going to get it?

It'd be like me saying 'Why should there be tax credits and help with childcare and cb for the first child when I didn't get them.'

OP, I often have the same thoughts when I see pensioners loading up their trolleys in M&S and Waitrose. I have noticed that the queue for the local foodbank never ever includes OAPs.

MrTumble I thought exactly the same! Amazing that all pensioners worked hard & paid into the pot, yet so many people today are lazy benefit scroungers…

fwiw, my FIL is 90, and DID fight in WW2, he turned 18 in 1943 so there can't be that many pensioners out there still alive who fought in ww2…

Having recently had to go through the experience of trying to find care, I would like to see more focused on that. Not one care agency had capacity to care for my FIL at home, and we had to ring more than 20 care homes before we found one with a vacancy that could take him. And the cost!

You do realise that pensioners pay tax on their pensions? My DH pays out more per year than he gets back.

My private pension that I paid into is lower than expected.

My DH's private pension was raided by his employers and vanished.

The goalposts were moved for my state pension leaving me no time to top it up.

The only benefit I ever claimed was child benefit. Why am I not entitled to other pensioner 'perks'? (hateful expression).

And if I want to occasionally shop in M&S and Waitrose it's no-one's damn business any more than I have the right to question how anyone else spends their benefits. (and the hoo-ha on here if anyone does do a Daily Mail and query how benefits are spent!)

I have noticed that the queue for the local foodbank never ever includes OAPs.

That's because a lot of pensioners in desperate straits also have a great deal of pride and are ashamed to admit they are in need. But let's just sneer at them anyway.

Nasty ageist thread.