The Pensions Triple Lock has to go

[Flammkuchen]

When it was introduced, the aim of the Triple Lock was to increase pensions faster than earnings as the state pension was low. The TL has been very successful: pensioners now have a higher standard of living and more disposable income than working families. A pensioner couple each getting the full state pension receive £20k per year, with any private pension income on top.

This is great for them, but it comes with a trade-off. In order to increase pensions by over 10% a year, there is less money to pay nurses, teachers or doctors. Highly skilled public sector workers have low pay and there is a recruitment crisis.

AIBU to think that now that on average pensioners have higher disposable income than those in work, a policy that aims to increase pensioner income by MORE than average earnings - and so keep increasing the income of pensioner households faster than working households - needs to be rethought? Even just linking the state pension to average earnings would be better.

I started work at 15 and I feel I've earned my pension after paying tax and NI for over 50 yrs while kids were getting free schooling, use of the NHS and lots of other stuff that cost their parents nothing. Now they're working to give me my money. Complaining that lots of pensioners are rich while they're poor is crap, we earned that money.

@OverTheRubicon

What are these social tarrifs for utilities?

Pensioners who get any amount of Guaranteed Pension credit get the whole of their council tax paid, not just a 25% single occupancy discount which is entirely different. They get all rent and council tax paid.

Just to add, if I'm the poster who mentioned the rent being paid I didn't mean it dismissive at all. I'm was wondering why someone in the same circumstances as my dad could be claiming £2.5k per month when he only gets his paw toon and rent (I forgot council tax at the time) but if you take his pension, rent and council tax it amounts to half the £2.5k someone else relative is getting.

And pensioners will continue to receive pension credits for many many years to come because if you get a disability benefit or you are a carer then the threshold for receiving pension credits goes up so even if you do get the new state pension, it is not going to prevent people from getting pension credit still ?

jannier · Today 20:58
Isleoftights · Today 19:39
Sorry i forgot about the council tax benefit
There is also Housing Benefit. A pensioner, on the basic State Pension, in a private rented flat in London could be receiving hundreds of pounds a month (even a week) in Housing Benefit.
And paying it all out in rent £500 to £750 for a room in a shared house here....and there is a limit on how much is paid.

'Local Housing Allowance' in (say) Islington is £295 a week for a one bedroom place. So an OAP there claiming Housing Benefit would receive £15,340 a year in Housing Benefit alone.

In addition, Islington Council tax, band B, £1203 a year, so an OAP in a typical one bed (band B) flat would receive (with single person's discount) would receive £800 per month, £9,600 in Council Tax discount.

So just their Housing Benefit + Council Tax Benefit, would be £24,940 a year.

In addition a pension paid at Pension Credit level is £9,495. So that's an income equivalent to £34,445, + free rail/tube/tram travel Winter Fuel Allowance, Warm Homes Discount, free prescriptions, free TV licence (over 75), reduced rate social tariffs) for water/energy/internet, etc. etc.

It has been explained. Most pensioners wont be getting 2.5 k a month in benefits but some will because of rent, council tax paid, disability benefits, additional pension credit that comes with disability. Yes it wont be the majority but there will be some getting this much.

AnnieSnap · Today 21:17
Only single Pensioners can receive a discount in their council tax. I believe there is a basic broadband available. It is charged for, cheaper than the standard, but also much lower. There is no subsidy for gas, electricity and water rates, other than a £200 winter fuel allowance (increased to £500 this year as a one off). BySocial Tariffs

Every water company has a social tariff scheme which can help reduce your bills if you're on a low income. Who is eligible for help and the level of support varies depending on your water company.
Help with my bills | CCW - Consumer Council for Waterwww.ccwater.org.uk › households › help-with-my-...There is no subsidy for water rates.

Because of life expectancy and also medical treatments now available, most pensioners are or will be net beneficiaries, ie., receive more than they ever paid out.

The same is not true for younger people, as there is an ever decreasing number of working age people to support each person beyond retirement age, and an increasing amount of medical and care spend.

It's even more true for younger people and our children, who are not only facing the huge costs of an elderly population who outnumber them, but also a very different working environment inclusion massively increasing competition from overseas and from automation.

Yes let's bash pensioners instead of challenging the government on wasting mo ey on vanity projects that could pay for wage increases.

Or seemingly never ever being able to sliver an IT project successfully. How many have gone wrong and wasted billions of pounds..how does this keep happening?! Who are these incompetent people?

Why aren't we pushing for value for money instead of constantly handing more over like a bottomless pit you cannot keep taxing ppl or degrading ppls lifes in pursuit of more money to waste.

All of us right are have been tightening our belts, how many ppl are wasting their money? I bet hardly anyone is yet the government present and past continue to waste our money and demand more. This is what you should be angry about.

So what would you do....should my dad have left my mum and sent us away to social services to be put in homes ...typically happened in the 50s and 60s. Should he have left my brother in an institution probably never to regain the functioning he has, should my mum have left her patient to die, should I have said I'm all right mate and left them all to starve, freeze and struggle. It's not a life choice it's a duty done with love. Your as strong as you have to be.

@Babyroobs

Thanks. I have seen I just didn't want anyone thinking I was being dismissive or unappreciative of my dads housing benefit really.

I don't think most pensioners are living it large based on my friends and acquaintances. My DM worked until she was 78 as the accredited drug giving nurse legitimising the whole house for two MH patients. When everyone was TUPEd out, she retired. She receives the old state pension and pension credit. End of. It's enough, because she owns her two-up two-down terraced house but it's not riches. Should she need care, it would cost £1000 A WEEK. It doesn't take long to burn through a smalll house's value,

@jannier - I don't want to say what happened to you or your family was a choice. It wasn't. But I want my kids and me to have more choices and better money so that when things are hard or difficult, then you don't have to work so hard, or you have money to help as well as family. Otherwise I would be heading for retirement with a state pension and not much else. That's not good, is it?

XingMing · Today 21:38
I don't think most pensioners are living it large based on my friends and acquaintances. My DM......receives the old state pension and pension credit. End of.

'End of'...you say. If she is (as you say) on 'pension credit', why isn't she claiming 'Council Tax Benefit' ? Why does she not have a bus pass ? Why isn't she receiving free prescriptions ? Why isn't she receiving £500 Winter Fuel Discount ? Why isn't she claiming £150 Warm Homes Discount ? Why isn't she claiming reduced rate (social tariffs) water, and phone/broadband rates ? Why isn't she (aged 78) receiving a free TV licence ?

A lot of women drift into real poverty when they retire. The state pension is not enough, it never has been.

These days, it is naive to expect that the state is going to provide comfort. It just about prevents destitution - women should be paying into pensions from an early stage. I've been doing that for over 25 years. My sister got made redundant in her 50s. By that stage she had pensions that she could draw down to keep going and savings. These are the same kind of issues where women expect husbands to look after them - what happens on divorce? You can get nothing. It is a difficult thing to acknowledge but living and caring for others means that you have to look after yourself.

Will my kids be able to pay for me? Should I expect that? No. I expect they will have all the struggles I have done and some more. But telling them renting and a state pension at 68 is okay, no.

No such thing as a free TV licence any more 🙄......andfree prescriptions are for any one over 60 so not just pensioners

Over 75's on Pension credit Guarantee still get free TV licence.

No such thing as a free TV licence any more 🙄

Oh but I think there is.

TV licence discounts for concessions (Free for over-75s)www.ageuk.org.uk › benefits-entitlements › tv-li...
20 Sept 2022 — You can claim a free TV licence. It'll cover you and anyone you live with,

@kitcat15 , she has those tickets, but they have no value in her life. She lives in the centre of her town, so it's easy and much healthier for her to walk and shop on foot with a trolley. And she enjoys going out, but the supermarket has moved out of town, so everything is just a bit farther away for her.

Sick of this ageist crap and in particular the tired old tropes about old people all being Tories

This

Those who have reached pension age in recent years receive the new pension (the one that some people on here think is too high) and they receive no pension credits. Therefore, they receive no reduction in council tax. You are desperate to show we all milk the system aren’t you? You know you too will be a pensioner some day if you’re lucky.

You will all one day get it, if it hasn’t been abolished, & you will be very thankful for it? We worked many years to look forward to getting out the rat race, & it happens faster than you think. Private pensio are good but you get taxed on them so every bit is welcome

OP, please explain why pensioners must live on less than the minimum wage. I'll wait.

We have to increase tax on those of us of working age who can work more and fund the NHS properly.

You want higher income tax?!