We should remove the triple lock pension

[SoloD]

For years now pensions have been rising the fastest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5% at a time when the opportunities for younger people have been drastically reduced.

We are now causing horrific damage to the economy principle to protect the older generations. And then there is the unfolding Brexit disaster.

Does anyone agree that the degree of unfairness is getting too great and the older generation need now to be fair and stop making demands at such cost to the rest of us?

Pensions haven’t caused any of this. Get the super rich to pay proper taxes. Stop heads of companies earning hundreds of times what their employees do.

If you want to tip more people into pensions credit (a more expensive system to admitted, and a gateway benefit, do more expensive on those grounds too) then this is exactly the policy to follow.

If however you do not want costs to increase, because you actually know something about the issue, then you would not support changing this (unless part of an ‘all in it together’ freeze if all pensions/salaries/benefits from the public purse)

I’m beginning to understand why some posters say the ageism is rife on MN,

SoloD You mean the £0.19 pence a week rise my Mum received this month? I don't think older people 'demand' anything of the sort, however, does the state pension keep up with the cost of living? I think the rise in Mum's pension was wiped out by the rise in her CTax this year.

Yeah, sure OP, time to go back to shitting on old people like the 70s, great plan.

I’m beginning to understand why some posters say the ageism is rife on MN,
Yep there is thinly disguised hate for anyone over about 45 on here most days.

I don't know how old you are. Would you stand Infront of someone who was 80, 90, 100 and say the same thing ?

Society is supposed to help & support the young, sick andd elderly

We are now causing horrific damage to the economy principle[sic] to protect the older generations.
No we aren't.
We've been fucking up the economy for the last ten years to make a political point about shifting the costs of everything onto poorer people.

Op do you currently pay into a private pension ?
Do you know how much the current state pension is ?

What a load of bull. Don't worry OP, the virus will kill of lots of people for you, so theres some pension money saved for you.
Tax the super rich and mulinational companies as they should be and that will bring in an awful lot of tax revenue.

For years now pensions have been rising
when the opportunities for younger people have been drastically reduced.
How does pensions (which people have contributed to all their working lives) equate to opportunities for young people?

Pretty much every young person has the opportunity to go to universities these days.

We are now causing horrific damage to the economy principle to protect the older generations.
All of the actions being taken are to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed. Judging by the older generations being left untreated in care homes and dying horrific deaths from CV (which doctors fail to record as cause if death), I fail to see how anyone is protecting older generations.

And then there is the unfolding Brexit disaster.
You say disaster. Many people welcome the opportunity that Brexit offers us.

Does anyone agree that the degree of unfairness is getting too great and the older generation need now to be fair and stop making demands at such cost to the rest of us?
I don't understand what demands you think the older generation are making.

Don’t worry we will all be dead from coronavirus soon so you won’t have to worry about paying our pensions. Along with the flood of cheap housing coming into the market it will be a win win for you.

Might be better to have a means tested pension? give more to those at the bottom and less to those who are wealthy, the giving away of bus and winter fuel allowances to 40% tax bracket pensioners is crazy.

Pensioners do have to sell all their assets to pay for their care, so its not as if they are getting off scot free.

I think you know nothing about pensions or the impact of them on the economy.

You realise the state pension is less than 7k a year. It’s not exactly champagne lifestyle money.... if you’ve paid a mortgage off maybe you can scrape by, but where I live if you have to rent a 1 bed house that’s your rent and council tax paid for, but no bills or food or anything else.

Actually the pension is now just over £9,000 but still too low in my opinion. The Op is being ridiculous. I haven’t heard my 80 year old mother demand anything. She just carries on living as frugally as she can.

Actually the 'new' pension depends on your NI contributions and many people don't get the full amount,especially if they were contracted out at any time.

No. We’ve worked all our lives in public sector and have earned every penny of our pensions. It’s already been stripped away enough.
Focus ion large companies paying their taxes and tax avoidance loopholes.

In UK you need 35 qualifying years to receive a full state pension. You can check your own status on www.gov.uk and you will need your National Insurance number
It shows you the date you will receive and the estimated amount
Subject to a possible age increase in the future

jasjas1973

That’s not dissimilar to what happens. There’s a basic state pension, then a further pension for those whose total retirement income falls below a certain level.

It is cheaper to administer than full means testing, and the effect is much the same. Reducing the basic pension just puts more people into the group who get the higher amount. So it costs us more.

That’s one reason why posters are saying the OP does not come across as well informed.

Pensions reviews have very far reaching consequences (worst case, excess deaths on very short timelines) and should not be made on the hoof.

A brief moratorium, alongside same for MPs allowances, salaries, benefits and all other emoluments from the public purse, might be a suitable part of what people have to forego in a ‘we’re all in this together’ approach

You need to bare in mind OP that a lot of pensioners of today paid into private pensions then the industries they worked in went bust so they aren't getting the private pension they should have gotten.

Sure there's lots of pensioners that own their house and have huge private pensions and also draw a state pension but those same people will have their house taken to pay for their care should they ever end up in a care home. Pensioners aren't really winning at anything to be honest.

I do agree though that it's highly unlikely most average Joe's paid enough NI in their lives to fund healthcare and a £9k a year pension so the money is having to come from somewhere. A pensioner that lives for 20 years will cost approx £200k in a pension (with inflation) and then all the care as well throughout their lives with the NHS which could easily be more than £100k for a moderate health condition that needs regular GP appointments and consultant care. I can't see any pensioner, even a high earner having paid £300k in NI in their working lives. That means they'd have paying approx £531 a month in NI for their entire working lives of 47 years or so. Not many would have paid that much, certainly a very low percentage would have and the one's that did will be the one's that have generous private pensioners most likely as they would have been very high earners throughout their working lives.

The word 'welfare' is frowned upon as being used when it comes to pensions but it is welfare for the most part as your NI contributions would probably just about cover your care, not a pension too so pensions generally come from the welfare pot

Might be better to have a means tested pension?

So, once again, those of us who have paid attention at school, got qualifications, been careful, saved money and worked our arses off for 40 years are going to get shafted in favour of those who've been feckless, lazy, made the wrong choices for a whole variety of reasons, stupidity not being the least of them?

I'm due my pension later this year - maybe I should make sure I get infected and die alone at home before then OP?

YANBU. Pensions have had a good run, at the same time as property.

It really is time to support younger workers.

YABU
Younger workers can work more jobs. I worked three jobs, eighty hours a week at one point.
The elderly can no longer work, they have no means to generate income above the pension. So it needs to keep up with inflation for them to have basic survival needs met. The U.K. pension is one of the lowest in Europe. Elderly are already dying every winter because they cannot afford both heat and food. It’s even lower than the minimum state pension the US pays! It is already too low, cutting it would drive the elderly into absolute poverty and cause many more deaths.

You haven't seen anything yet !

The second home owners and BTL hoarders are contributing to a freezing out of home ownership for the young. A sizeable majority of those will be paying rent for the rest of their lives so that by about 2050 the state pension will need to be inflated to include a housing component. In the alternative it will be means tested.