Pensions to rise with inflation - but what about working people???

[doris9034]

BBC Website: "Liz Truss and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt jointly agreed to guarantee that the state pension rises with inflation next year - thereby maintaining the "triple lock" - ahead of PMQs this morning, Downing Street says.
In a huddle with reporters after PMQs, the prime minister's official spokesman said the decision reflected the "unique position" of pensioners who are "unable to increase their earnings through work"

But I - and millions of others - are also unable to "increase our earnings through work" because we are in the middle income bracket, our employers do not have the capacity to raise our earnings in line with inflation and we don't qualify for any state related benefits.

So, whilst I 100% don't begrudge the helping of pensioners (many of whom are probably among the better off anyway), I can't help but feeling a bit annoyed that it always seems to be the ordinary working person / family that never gets any respite from the ever increasing cost of living.

But they don’t see us in that light do they? They don’t see mothers as making valuable contributions to the economy, they just vote Tory to strip away our rights and subsidies as working parents.

Except most pensioners never paid in enough to fund how much they actually cost the state. So workers are now filling in the gap.

My point is that it's possible to target help to those that need it.

Except most pensioners never paid in enough to fund how much they actually cost the state. So workers are now filling in the gap.

Can you back that sweeping statement up with fact? And can you prove that your generation will be any different?
So much hate for 'old people' on MN, you will all be pensioners one day. I hope the younger generation is kinder to you when your time comes

And that will be the case when you retire. Are you going to refuse it because you haven't paid enough to deserve it?

Yes we will and I like to think when the time comes we will vote for a party that cares about younger and working people rather than dismissing them all as ‘Avacado eating work shy wokesters’ while ruining their lives with cruel policies.

@Cuppasoupmonster
Well, if a lot of women haven't "paid a full working history of NI", as "there were many more SAHMS", and if they haven't been credited with NI contributions, (e.g, via Home Responsibilities Protection), then they won't be able to claim a State Pension anyway ......🙄

I work for a pension scheme which will be awarding their pensioners the 10.1% increase. I will be lucky to get 1%

Yes I think NI should merge with tax, it should just be tax. But it's an unpopular view I know.

Have they? A lot of the women won’t have paid a full working history of NI. There were many more SAHMs

A lot of women didn't have NI histories because it was expected that on marriage they would give up work and be supported by their husbands, and that come retirement they would be covered by their husbands' NI record. That was why there was a married woman's reduced stamp - if you worked paying NI was a legal requirement but the reduced stamp was the way round that. It didn't entitle women to any benefits. They had to rely on their husbands' NI record for that.

Exactly this. Maj of tory voters are older so they will be protected. Sod everyone else.

For every well-to-do pensioner, there are probably 10 who are nudging poverty for a huge variety of reasons. My DM got the very thin end of an unpleasant divorce in her late 30s, but had already gone back to work. She worked in MH nursing care until she was 78. She bought a small house outright in the 90s, in preference to renting using a legacy from her partner plus some help from her mum and her daughters. It's just enough, with pension credit and the odd lump of equity release, to keep her head above water but unsurprisingly, she looks at the COL figures in terror and trepidation.

Except most pensioners never paid in enough to fund how much they actually cost the state. So workers are now filling in the gap

The welfare state was set up as a contract between the young and the old. The young supported the older people on the understanding that when they were old, they would be supported in turn by the younger generation.

I started working full time in 1987. I paid for a lot of pensioners for 30 odd years. It never occurred to me to question it. Why would l?

Although you can guarantee that by the time I retire, the triple lock will be binned.

This is the issue I have, prescriptions won't be free, NHS won't exist in its current form so people are paying tax & seeing their living standards decline but won't get the same subsidies.

The welfare state was set up as a contract between the young and the old. The young supported the older people on the understanding that when they were old, they would be supported in turn by the younger generation.

Isn't the contract broken though due to housing costs, pensions being less favourable, wage stagnation, higher taxes, drop in birth rates & the complete change in demographics?

Yep.

Yes we will and I like to think when the time comes we will vote for a party that cares about younger and working people rather than dismissing them all as ‘Avacado eating work shy wokesters’ while ruining their lives with cruel policies.

I'd like to think so too. I am one of the lucky ones through this difficult time and would never vote for a government that only looked after the well off

But with an aging, declining population its just not sustainable. The contract is broken. The tax burden on the young to prop up pensions is getting too high. I don't know what the solution should be, but you can't blame people for being frustrated. Stagnant wages, soaring house prices. If we don't start to change things somehow the next generations will be supporting a generation of private renters and it will become even less sustainable.

How many pp moaning about well off pensioners are paying into a private pension which they will obviously benefit from when they retire? Are they prepared to have less of a state pension because that's basically what you're suggesting. No one gets rich on a state pension.
You cannot penalise people for being financially savvy all their working lives.

Well they did have to, because there was no childcare.

when? I was born in the 80s & went to a nursery

How many pp moaning about well off pensioners are paying into a private pension which they will obviously benefit from when they retire?

Me, unfortunately the scheme changed the rules the yr before I joined it so it's less favourable....

@toulet, well I was born in the 50s, and there was no nursery.

I do wish MN would make up its mind about pensioners.
It appears they are either wicked baby boomers with huge pensions and houses that they bought for 5 shillings that are not worth £20 million. Or alternatively as described on another thread they are all sitting in tiny hovels unable to afford food or heating in their miserly pensions.
So which is it?

Stagnant wages, soaring house prices. If we don't start to change things somehow the next generations will be supporting a generation of private renters and it will become even less sustainable.

It's actually scary

MrsDanvers and once those DC turned 18 when she was mid 40's she could have returned to work. But didn't.