To think well done on Tue government for looking after OAPs

[Marue]

Fair play to the Tories they are looking after pensioners. There is lots of Tory bashing on here but the people that have worked hard their whole lives for the benefit of the country are rightly being looked after. They have kept to their word and I'm pleased to live in a country that looks after the elderly and makes sure they dont have to freeze or starve themselves.

Just felt like we needed a positive thread after that other one :)

1 in 6 pensioners live in poverty.

So not all pensioners benefit, but the wealthiest benefit most, just like any other demographic under the Tories.

Child benefit is means tested to some extent but I don't think you can really compare the value of winter fuel allowance (£100 per person pa) and bus pass (where there are few buses) with child benefit which is £15 per child per week (I think) or over £750 per year - some differance.
What level would you means test 'the perks' at - higher rate tax payer? which would catch those pesky final slary pensioners
And to repeat the facts: free uni education for 10% of the brightest,
house prices - blame Gordo Brown for that
Not all pensioners worked hard and some of your parents/in laws sound as if they had it easy
I worked as a single parent after uni until I retired and with a small annuity now have a grand total of 12K per year to live on and pay all my bills - so should I lose 'the perks' if they were means tested??

Rather than resenting the benefits OAPs get, you should be demanding that all vulnerable people get treated fairly. Taking the benefits from the old doesn't help the the other groups in need.
Free bus passes are there to help Pensioners get about. Many can't walk as far as you do and many can't drive due to health conditions.Women can't get them until 65 now in many areas.
It does seem unfair that rich people get money and benefits they don't need so means tests would make sense but then you would get people moaning that they worked hard and provided for their old age and others did not.

I doubt the Government would give more help to the needy and vulnerable if they took benefits from the old. They would just take it and do nothing for anyone else.
If you think ordinary people will ever benefit from a Tory government you are mad.

As someone else said, 60 really isn't that old

A few people have said this and I don't get it, because if you are 60 now, you don't qualify for state pension until you are 66. Neither do you get a bus pass in England (apart from London I think). Not sure about Wales/N Ireland/Scotland.

You do get free prescriptions though, although I am expecting this to disappear fairly soon and agree that it should be means tested.

I know quite a few women who are over 60. They look great and don't appear old or act old, however, try talking to some.
They have gone through the menopause, many have developed back and leg pain from years of working or sitting at a desk all day. They want to do things but lack the energy. Some have gone through periods of bad health and never fully recovered. Some have had mental health issues/depression due to their menopause and have suffered agoraphobia or panic attacks.
Now they have to wait until 65 to get a state pension. If they lose a job at age 60 or later they have less chance of getting another job than someone in their 40s or younger.
No, 60 is not that old. It's a damn sight different to 40 though.

If some of these pensioners didn't get benefits they didn't need (and I know several), there would be more money in the pot for those of all ages that genuinely do. "Heat or eat" for many?...it's a load of crap. My DM (retired at 60) is currently on a cruise in the Med spending her fuel allowance.
People aged 65 are now far healthier with a much longer life expectancy than when the welfare state was introduced. The pensioner benefits threshold should be raised to at least 70 and means tested. Never has a generation had such a sense of entitlement.

CPtart...totally agree.
My mum - who has worked hard all her life - is now in a position where she owns her own home and has plenty of money for her needs.
Why should she get free prescriptions? She can afford to pay. Paracetamol on prescription!? It's 13p a pack at Aldi!!
Why should she get a fuel payment? She can afford her heating bills.
She has a free bus pass she has used once
I love my mum and she has had a hard life in many ways, only becoming financially comfortable after she and dad got to 65.
But she is in receipt of benefits she does not need.
Simple.

Paracetamol on prescription!?

She gets her paracetamol on prescription?! That's just taking the piss (and I am 60).

People aged 65 are now far healthier with a much longer life expectancy than when the welfare state was introduced.

But with the cult of youth at the moment, it is hard to get a job in your late fifties and sixties. I know I was made to feel old and unwanted in my job and was sidelined out. I would have worked longer - I work part time now.

I agree with some benefits being means tested but object to being accused of having a sense of entitlement.

I get my paracetamol on prescription because of the quantities I need it in. I would be shop hopping to buy enough so my gp prescribes it along with my other painkillers

Yep!
And I know several other pensioners who do too!
When I tentatively expressed the opinion that it was a waste of NHS resources I got a flaming I won't forget In a hurry!
My mums friend actually stockpiles meds.
She has mountains of paracetamol, ibuprofen, you name it.
A cupboardful.
It's so depressing that they think this is
A) acceptable
B) they are "entitled" to it.

Lunchpack - Oh I see, well I can understand in that case. I just thought it was a couple of packs or something. I guess there are all sorts of ramifications we don't think of unless/until we are in that situation ourselves. No offence intended.

None taken. I don't think people realise there are restrictions on medicines you can self purchase and if you are in chronic pain and take a lot of painkillers these restrictions are incredibly frustrating. So Dr's prescribe the medications.

The free prescriptions for diabetics annoys me. Not so much the type 1s but the type 2 lifestyle diabetics. Personal gripe there though.

....but if you have a cupboard full you arent actually taking them, are you?
(Like my mum and her friend)
I am assuming you get your meds and take them?
Not stick them in a cupboard and re order them the following month?

Well no. If you stockpile them you're an arse.

I'm sorry I think most tories are a bunch of cunts.
So no I don't agree with you although I acknowledge your right to express your own view.

Badders The trouble is at the moment they are entitled to it and I do expect that eventually it will be means tested.

I have to say that at 60 this is the first "benefit" I have been able to claim for years - since child benefit and some tax credits years ago. But that doesn't mean to say that I should be able to. I certainly don't feel "entitled" in the way I think you mean.

Is agree your gripe about that!
My sis and bil are type 2 - and very wealthy. They have type 2 because they are obese and they drink too much.
They get free prescriptions.
My Dh - who has asthma - does not.
That makes me really angry.

Pensioners are a huge part of the Conservative client vote, and more reliable voters than most other segments of society. It's natural that they should be looked after by the Tories... But it's still bad policy.

Free TV licences etc are relatively small beer; the big ticket item is the triple lock, which is fiscal lunacy; it grows exponentially by construction.

Whilst that would be a price worth paying if it saved the country from Labour bringing Britain to the edge of bankruptcy once again, there is no chance of Labour ever getting power with Corbyn and McDonnell. Against that backdrop, the time has come to cut pensioner freebies. It can be done in a gentle tapered way.

I'm sorry I think most tories are a bunch of cunts.
So no I don't agree with you although I acknowledge your right to express your own view.

^^^^^

This! I am just surprised that ordinary people like me vote for them.

I'm on lifelong medications and I'm only in my early 30s. Without my medications my life is effectively over.

Thank god for my prepayment card! £10 a month instead of £60!

I was really shocked at mums friend tbh.
I thought she was sensible :(
Sadly mum does now need quite a few meds but she could afford them.
Free prescriptions should be for those with life long life threatening conditions and for people who genuinely cannot afford them.
It would prob cost my mum about £40 a month at current script charges.
Of course if they were means tested it would bring down the cost for everyone!
(Or is that too much of a socialist PoV!!!?)

Oh, and kids of course!

Thing is it needn't be expensive. Even paying the nominal prepayment card charge of £10 a month would help