I know this will be contentious - cost of living rise

[qualitychat]

My mum is a pensioner and gets Disability Benefit and Mobility Benefit and Pension Credit. She receives almost what I get in a month. She is moaning about the Government not doing enough about the cost of gas and electricity, which I agree with. The thing is they have said that people on benefits and pension credit will be given lump sums towards their bills. I am a middle earner and so is my husband. We will likely get nothing. Do you not think it will be the ordinary working families who will be squeezed the most if something is not done?

And the next generation will inherit it from todays pensioners. So, not buying your projection there of the next generation being worse off once they reach pension age.

@MsPincher I did not say that the equitable life pensioners lost all their money. They had their pensions reduced.

The problem we have is that the current older generation have not paid enough into the system, because when they were born, life expectancy wasn't so high. People were not expected to be living into their 80s and they haven't paid enough to be living that long. Really, they should have retired later. Younger generations are now paying the price.

I know in the 1980s too workers with private pensions were encouraged to opt out of SERPS. The advice then was you only need to invest in state or private, but not both to have a secure retirement.

And lots of older people still working cashed in their pensions to free up money. I know people who did that to help their kids get a house deposit.

No it wouldn’t. It would mean that everyone would have to pay their fair share towards care, instead of not bothering and then relying on overstretched local authorities and the funding pots of others. People who have the means to pay - ie, homes to sell to fund them, would continue to do so until funding runs out, and then the local authority would fund them - as happens now. The only difference would be that self funders would have access to the whole of their funding source instead of having to contribute to the care of others.

Is it possible for you to say roughly how much she gets as I am a pensioner too and would like to compare. I get 686 pounds approx a month ( missed some years) but thankfully that is not my only source of income.

That is state pension I would have added.

Should

You’ve 100% hit the nail on the head there- I’m so sorry about your DD but it sounds like your doing a great job with her 👍🏻 I too used to work full time, study part time AND volunteer with a local homeless organisation- until I had a 2nd spinal cord surgery which left me with a condition called ‘cauda equina syndrome’ so I’m not basically5/7 days bedbound On a good week! So I’m so sick of hearing people talking about the ones who ‘who take the piss on benefits’ - don’t get me wrong it’s because of those people I’m ashamed to tell people my situation- but like you my ‘previous life’ when I was working, going out, meeting friends for coffee ect I’d change back to that life in a heartbeat if I could! 💔😭😢😖🤯😡🤬😤😠🥺- I hope u & ur DD are keeping safe & well OP xx

So I don’t know why we can’t have a system where average usage less 10% to incentivise reduced usage is priced at pre October levels for everyone. Then above that the price per unit rises steeply. So higher users pay more. Protection for vulnerable groups. Everyone then has a basic affordable level. What do you think?

“Very generous” meaning a whopping average of £148/week or £7,696 per annum for the lucky ones who had them.

Keep in mind, you don’t get pension credit if your workplace pension gets you to or over the full state pension of £185/week. Which will apply to the vast majority of pensioners, especially women.

But even looking at the very very few better off pensioners who have this £148/wk and also get the full £185/wk from state pension- that puts their huge amounts of wealth at £17,316 per annum.

Compare that to the average wage of £29,600 per annum.

Because the majority of people in fuel poverty are also high users due to substandard housing with low EPCs and old/not energy efficient at all boilers and other appliances- fridges, ovens, hobs.

So having a lower rate for lower than average users would benefit those not in fuel poverty because they are in better housing with high EPCs and brand new top of the line energy efficient boilers and appliances.

Completely agree OP. The thing is it's not even middle earners who will be left out in tge cold (excuse the pun 🥶). You only need to earn £1more than benefitthreshold to get nothing except the payment that our suppliers have been given!

I personally earn a relativeky big income, but I spend about £2k a month keeping my DD afloat. She is unable to work - has cfs and anxiety . She gets no benefits, nothing as she moved to the Isle of Man. Ut even in uk she received less than her rent was! I'm self employed, my current contract ends in Nov and I fear things might get bad for contractors...

Fair point but any solution is not going to be perfect and I agree we should invest in infrastructure but in the short term we have to have affordability for everyone. Average usage seems reasonable and takes account of the current housing stock. It is also a level that most people have managed to pay and you would still have protections for low income disability etc

I do think those on benefits can actually be better off than two working adults with DC.

I get £1900 in UC. Plus £600 DLA for my son. Plus carers of about £260. That's a total of about £2700 a month. Admittedly my rent does have to come out of that but I'm secure in my assured tenancy as it's a housing association property.

Meanwhile my SIL has 2 DC (not disabled), but both her and her husband work full time. They have to pay for childcare. And have 0 left at the moment after bills. Their car is 15 years old. They will get no extras to help pay their bills

But in all honestly I don't really 'need' an extra £150 a month. I won't sniff at it though as the cost of gas and electric is eye watering. But there are so many working families who are actually far worse off

You would get the DLA and carers if you are working or not. It has nothing to do with being on other benefits.
Your benefits are £1900 UC.

@antelopevalley if I earned over about £120 a week I wouldn't. It would all be taken off so you're not actually paid anything at all (carers allowance) but I think you can still 'claim' without receiving the money for the pension credits, I think?

Which I cannot do due to being a FT carer. And I have no option to work even PT for now. It is very sad. Knowing I am at the mercy of what the state deem I'm worth giving. I so wish I could work. But it just isn't a reality

Still though, I am better off than a lot of families with 2 working adults

I'm on disability benefits & have a small ill health pension. Before the cost of living crisis I had £93 a month left after paying everything I have to pay, now my balance of rent I have to pay has gone up, my energy bills have gone through the roof, food has gone up, my money won't stretch to cover everything. Yes I got £1200 towards my energy costs but I worked out that even just with the October increase, the fact I'm in credit, my monthly dd & the £1200 by March I won't have paid for my full usage, take in the January increase & I don't know how I will manage. I switch off as much as I can but I need my home to be warm because of my health conditions, the only answer may be to stay in bed all day, what kind of life is that?

@Nat6999 so sorry, it is horrendous for people like you. I feel for you

The proposed tax changes won't help people on benefits because the majority don't pay tax. The only hope we have is that inflation & the RPI are high in October so that benefits will be increased by a suitable amount.

God I miss 2019 😩

Average usage is skewed towards those well off enough to be in a well insulated, energy efficient home. It’s not reasonable at all if your aim is to make energy costs “affordable for everyone”. It will make energy costs more expensive for those least able to afford it. Except for the ultra rich who can afford to be high users- who let’s face it are far fewer than the millions in fuel poverty.

It’s not really a level most people have managed to pay when you look at those in fuel poverty. These people are simply turning off their heat, fridges, lights,…eating cold tins of food rather than warm them up. Thousands are not topping up their prepayment meters so literally have no gas and no electricity at all.

Well not really as pensioners don’t generally have the option to work instead, as they reach a point where it’s not physically possible. Non pensioners who can’t work through physical disability can claim pip but pensioners can’t claim pip unless they were disabled before they retired