To worry that the conservatives are going to target pensioners next

[Sjdorset]

Have anyone else noticed the anti pensioner stuff out this week? Firstly about getting rid of the essential tripple lock (2.5% so not a huge increase) and the talk that pensioners are supposedly getting more than working age people (why shouldn't they after all they have worked their entire life and don't have options available to increase their earnings).

I'm worried they maybe next on the target list, quite frankly I think this is a worrying trend building up.

www.express.co.uk/finance/retirement/445956/Fears-for-pensions-as-government-s-crucial-triple-lock-guarantee-faces-axe

It seems the Tory divide and rule is working very well, yet again. If we can't speak out on behalf of one another, then what hope is there?

First they came for the Socialists Unemployed and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist unemployed
Then they came for the Trade Unionists Disabled and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist Disabled
Then they came for the Jews Pensioners and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew Pensioner
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

floisme she didn't , all her kids had left home by 20 aswell , so from about 40 up until 70 she still hasn't worked

My Ma and stepdad are "wealthy pensioners" i.e. not starving or freezing, of the kind being sneered at. They don't go on cruises etc but only cos it's not their bag and my Ma is a bit too frail anyway. They pay income tax. Yes, they are still paying in.

Btw,very few of the old folk I know vote Tory, so you can stuff that "they all vote Tory" pub wisdom too.

Echt yes if you means test pensioners you have to tell them what they CAN claim for not what they might lose so you may save some money by means testing pensioners but not as much as you think if other pensioners suddenly realise what they can claim and go for it.

Do you have any figures for your claim?

Take your time.

I read that the most frightening demographic to any political party is pensioners - because they are most likely to go out and vote. So if the Tories do fuck them over now, they're going to have to find a way to make it up to them in about four years time.

They don't all wasonthelist but they lean more Tory than other age groups do. That's a fact. If your experiences don't match it, they're unrepresentative. I don't think I know any elderly people who voted Tory either, as it happens, but our anecdotes don't trump actual data.

And really, invoking the spectre of Nazi fucking Germany because people are asking why a group with more wealth and influence than other groups should be so comparatively shielded from cuts? Have a word with yourself.

Liesel lets have a look at yourPsephology then, since we've seen each others anecdotes.

The Nazi thinbs wasn't me btw

Of course they will target them. If we let this lot carry on, soon there will be no NHS or Welfare to speak of at all

You should be able to find what you're looking for here. Age and more besides.

www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3575/How-Britain-voted-in-2015.aspx?view=wide

Pretty comprehensive.

Yeah I know it wasn't, I was addressing myself to the person who took sufficient leave of their senses to post it but perhaps should've made that more clear.

The person with a gran who had six kids is having a laugh that she never worked a day in her life. She may have done no PAID work but she certainly ekruld have had her work cut out. I have five and its hard work now so must have been harder then.

My gran also was a SAHM to five, as was perfectly common and acceptable, even encouraged, at the time. She worked hard in raising them and like many 'housewives' did a lot of volunteering and was very known in community groups and issues.

So, looking at those figures, over 65s have the highest turnout, and highest Tory vote at 47%. This is still a minority, although agreed it's less so than for younger people.
The problem with percentages is they are somewhat irrelevant in FPP, but what this seems to show is that only about half of over 65s actually vote Tory

It also shows that they vote Tory in rather higher numbers than the rest of the population. Given that the Tories total share across the whole of those voting was only 36.1%, their success with pensioners is very significant.

Liesel agreed, but that still isn't "they all vote Tory"

Sorry Echt did you not actually READ the link you posted it said

Each year up to £3.7bn of benefits go unclaimed by older people. Let us help make it easier.

Please don't take that sarky tone with me.

I KNOW some pensioners don't claim or don't know how to claim, my old Dad was one of them it took me and my sisters time and effort finding out what he could get and THEN persuading him to claim - and we are talking about a man who worked for 70 years and last claimed 'benefits' 50 years ago when he got family allowance.

Perhaps we need to redefine the term 'pensioners'. My DM is 86, lived through the 2nd world war, trained, worked, brought up a family while caring for her DM, then cared for her DH until his death and now relies on a small private pension and her heating allowance.

Contrast that with others aged between 60 and 70 (ish) - had the best of everything, free university studying, benefitted from the booms, pension schemes and are now reaping free travel, heating allowance, prescriptions etc. Generally speaking this age group have more disposable income than most. They are the ones who should be targetted - I know of several who still have their heating allowance despite spending winters in their holiday homes abroad. We should be giving more help to the under 25s, they are the (next) working generation and unless we help them in every way possible, we are setting ourselves up for failure for the future.

Yes, they like going after the vulnerable. i100.independent.co.uk/article/meanwhile-in-iceland-the-26th-banker-has-been-jailed-for-their-role-in-the-2008-financial-crisis--ZkgQiVqJfdx

Yeah I agree the term pensioner or over 60s is misleading as it potentially 35 agespan. You certainly wouldn't lump 20 and 55 year olds into a single age group.

I really think our politicians should be focused on reworking the tax rules. It sickens me that we are cutting back on our level of care for the disabled yet don't have the sharp teeth to make non-dom pay taxes on their worldwide income. It's bullying at it's worst.

I don't have an issue with a company like Amazon paying less in tax IF they are not employing tax avoidance policies such charging a high license fee as a way of repatriating profits.

Our politicans are a bunch of wusses.

Of course it isn't 'they all vote Tory' wasonthelist, although I don't think even people who say that think literally every pensioner did. The salient point is that the majority would be unlikely to have occurred without disproportionate pensioner support, and because of this the Tories know which side their bread's buttered and will act accordingly. Fundamentally, they're in power because pensioners voted in their own economic self-interest, and that's why pensioner incomes and benefits are likely to remain protected. So OP is probably BU.

It would be relatively easy to means test pensioner benefits in much the same way that child benefit is means tested, ie limit them to people who pay income tax at the standard rate.

I'm not sure this would save a huge amount though, because even relatively well off pensioners often don't have huge incomes. Often they are "well off" because of low outgoings - eg housing already paid for, no commuting costs - not because they have huge incomes. My ILs would be in that bracket - well below the higher tax rate threshold but still very comfortable.

i saw on the news that Winchester council are going to cut 58 Million fro their adult social care budget......i doubt they will be the last, I imagine that will affect a lot of pensioners and of course the disabled.