What are all pensioners getting another £300 this winter??

[F0RBIDDENFRUIT]

They are amongst the richest people in the country, yes there are poor pensioners but a lot of them are way richer than anyone else.

£300 more for energy, none of the old people I know need this, they all have more money than their children.

Just because they vote, that is the only reason they can be doing this.

The UK is financially crippled because of an ageing demographic with too many universal pensioner benefits.

No, no, no. It’s a drop in the ocean. In terms of the cost of pensioners, it’s next to nothing. You can hardly compare a few bn£ to the £48bn a year & rising that has been wiped off the U.K. national income by Brexit alone since 2016. Oh, and one Covid lockdown cost more than 5yrs of all pensioner benefits.
Liz Truss 45days as PM crippled the U.K. as much as a decade of pensioner benefits. But, yeah let’s go on blaming people whose only crime is they got too old to work for the U.K. ‘s financial state instead of the three ring circus in Parliament.

Your resentment is oozing off the page, op!

Why, what does it matter, how does it affect you? A lot of pensioners worked hard before retirement and many of them were hard up when young and bringing up children (like me and my husband). Be glad that at last they can relax and maybe have a bit extra. Those who have children often share with their families.

You might become old and better off with a pension than you are now and I doubt you will complain about a bit of money from the electricity board at Christmas.

Where in Europe offers the most to residents in terms of pension provision?

Spain tops the European Pension Breakeven Index. The Spanish pension system pays out a maximum of €2,617.53 per month (£2,287.24) and coupled with the country’s low cost of living, pensioners can expect a comfortable retirement in the sun with pension income at 407.40% over the breakeven point. Belgium came in second place, with the country’s pension system paying out a maximum of €3,100 per month for those who have worked for 45 years. Although not particularly low, the monthly cost of living for a single person in Belgium (excluding rent) is €822.17 (£720.45) but thanks to the generous pension, retirees are still likely to feel comfortable.

The UK ranked around the halfway mark in the top 30 at number 16, just above the breakeven point for pension income. At just 16.61% above the breakeven point, the UK pays just £114.28 more in state pension than the average cost of living for a pensioner, but as the cost of living crisis rages on, the monthly costs are expected to rise significantly over the coming months. The maximum UK state pension pays a total of £802.32 per month to retirees and at the time of writing, recent data stated that the monthly cost of living for a single person (excluding rent) is £688.04.

https://www.almondfinancial.co.uk/pension-breakeven-index-how-does-the-uk-state-pension-compare-to-the-rest-of-europe/

How odd then that the PHSO disagrees with you and in the first stage of its investigation into the DWP's communication of state pension age changes, the ombudsman concluded that DWP had committed maladministration by failing to write promptly to those women affected. And that the PHSO has now agreed to review the second stage of the investigation too. Still, someone to tell them not to bother because some random on Mumsnet says it’s all good.

Working hard doesn’t mean you should get loads of free things and money when you’re already well off, being well off is your reward for working hard. The people that should be helped are the people that need it regardless of their age. There’s too many people living in poverty to justify giving well off pensioners benefits and freebies to reward them for having worked.

People whinging about £2bn a year to attempt to make sure pensioners can keep warm. Honestly. It is a drop in the ocean.

(Just realised someone else said the same thing!)

This statement makes aboslutely zero economic sense.

Public finances don't work that way.

There seems to be this pervasive assumption in the older UK crowd that they deserve "Benefit A, B, C, D"...."because they pay tax".

Things are not that simplistic.

The actual cost of those extra benefits is greater than the tax you are paying in.

Which cycles back to what I stated:

There are too few net taxpayers in the UK and its that which is now crippling public services. Unless more under-taxed people (low income, medium income, wealthy pensioner) pay more in public services will continue to deteriorate.

We have to broaden the tax base or start cutting spending (this means public services will be lost).

Its existential now for the UK because it cannot borrow more to keep financing the extra spending.

It is per household and in a normal year (without the COL add-on) equates to circa £6 per week. How can it be worth the admin to means test less alone tax the amount .

Agreed.

I would focus on the poorer pensioners (15% poverty), the disabled, and the poorer children (26% poverty)

Thats were the focus should be for means-tested benefits.

No there isn’t. Those are asylum seekers. Totally legal.
illegal immigrants get nothing because if they declared themselves to the authorities they would be deported.
HTH
oh, also I’ve reported that post.

You have a lot to learn about how the UK Govt works.

A decision by the ombudsman is not legally enforceable.

They can simply ignore it. Which they have.

I put the details I had into the "entitled to" website
I.e. state pension and £600 rent each month and your dad should qualify for full council tax paid for him, paying barely any rent and some pension credit. If he doesn't claim this at the moment perhaps you could help him to do so.

TheThinkingGoblin. “Too few people in the UK are net tax contributors”.

I think you are right in saying that the tax system needs rethinking. However this is a very reductionist and simplistic view of the causes of our poor economic state. Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

The actual cost of those extra benefits is greater than the tax you are paying in

But this whole thread is about ‘wealthy’ pensioners. If they’re that wealthy then they’ll be paying income tax at the same rate as everyone else.

My PIL certainty don't need it. Similar scheme in the country I'm from ( not the UK). PIL receive

600 a week from state pension
Fuel allowance of 37 each week
Free TV licence
Free healthcare
Free travel, bus,coach,train

They have never had a mortgage. They got a newly built council home 40 years ago in a beautiful village that's close to everything. When MILs mother died she bought the hough from the council for 60k, its worth 600k now.

FIL works part time for 8 months a year in a very cushy job, self emoted, does his own hours and makes 25k after tax.

For all those who say pensioners are entitled to this money because they paid into the system, this is not always through. MIL never worked and FIL worked for cash in hand for many years whilst claiming benefits.

They most certainly do not need all these benefits and it should be means tested.

Come to think of it I don't know and pensioner's that are struggling.

I thought it was £250?

And if the government got its arse into gear and cracked on with processing asylum applications in a reasonable amount of time, those granted refugee status could start working and contributing and not be living in hostels, and those whose applications were turned down could be returned to their own countries.

Sorry for typos

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make but I don't think wealthy pensioners with millions in investment portfolios providing them with an income far higher than the average income of a a working age person, should receive 8k a year from the government. I think we should stop giving pensions to everyone regardless of need and give a higher amount to those who have little else to live on aside from their state pension. I don't blame anyone for the governments incompetence, apart from the government. It's clearly not the fault of wealthy pensioners that they keep getting bunged money from the state - not sure why you think I am blaming the individuals, I didn't say anything like that.

Why do people keep posting these articles?

The levels of disinformation are astonishing.

A pension is a function of your contributions over a specific length of time.

In Europe, their contributions are 2-3x larger than the UK (much higher social security contributions in Europe vs NI) and they also have to work longer (35-40 years) to qualify for a full one.

So no, you do not deserve a similar pension as Europeans because you never paid in enough contributions over your lifetime.

It is that simple.

Enforcement or not is irrelevant. The previous poster decided everyone knew about it and therefore there was no problem and it was their own fault. Clearly that is not the case as the DWP have been found to have been guilty of maladministration. Whether the government do anything about it doesn’t change that.

The OP doesn't mention "wealthy" until you open her clickbait GF ageist post.

Yeh same here know loads of over 65, many still working FT higher tax earners but not paying tax

Dont know any poorer 65-90s, all are wealthier than people i know of under 45 (Peterborough).

Bonkers. Almost like MPs are all nearly pensioners themselves... oh yes, they are

@lakielady
My MIL gets pension credit, because she only worked for 15 years and therefore doesn't qualify for state pension. She gets all her rent (council house, £165pw) and council tax (approx £1500 pa) paid from benefits, but only has £201 pw for everything else. That £300 makes a huge difference to her, it means she doesn't have to worry about putting the heating on.

This is the bitter irony for those of us who paid 40 years of NI and also paid into a personal pension and as a result have an income slightly over the personal allowance and over the pension credit level - so pay tax, pay for our council tax, TV licence and find our income per week is not far off the £201 per week quoted.

When I started work in the public sector joining the pension scheme was mandatory. I believe that it was a certain Thatcher who allowed employees to opt out .And some people did. I didn't because I knew one day I would be grateful. It doesn't matter which way you vote, if you disagree with something or not, we can't stop governments doing things that any of us thinks is stupid.It's stupid that money isn't ring fenced for pensions isn't invested by the government thus enabling state pensions to self fund.To me that makes sense.
i'm very grateful for my pensions, i worked for them.