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The £300 needs to be withdrawn from higher rate tax pensioners and redistributed to those who are struggling, £300 extra over a 7 month winter period is simply not enough for those struggling.

My error! But a technical one... a personal pension v an occupational pension. Like me... my occupational pension is miniscule, but my private pension savings are much larger, because I've been self-employed much of my working life.

Just give it to pensioners on pension credit who clearly need it.

Get rid the triple lock and send the money to education and policing. It's a better use of the money and would improve the country.

Dla is for children under 16 with disabilities that qualify them

Agreed! This is the most sensible and fair thing to do

No, sadly it’s the percentage of the age group. Even more sadly 21% of 18-24 year olds who voted went Tory.

I keep pointing out that pension credit is the most underclaimed benefit of all so, while it’s great in principle, in practice it would just leave many of the poorest even worse off.

Which bit of the triple lock would you remove? You have to have some mechanism for pensions to increase.

well my Mum is a pensioner and definitely needs this.

The triple lock's three elements are average earnings growth, RPI inflation or 2.5% general uplift, which was introduced after the pension increased by 75p one time in the early 2000s... as @Blossomtoes says, which one do you want to cut?

You can't eat homes. You could set fire to one to keep warm I suppose.

Go on Rightmove and have a look at probate properties. They are often run down because older people are cash poor but asset rich.

So sell the house and use the cash? Not rocket science is it?

@BIossomtoes - I'd just give it back to the Chancellor to decide, as with every other bit of government spending. The triple lock was an effective bit of policy that secured pensioner voters for the Conservatives, and of course, they turn out for them in great numbers.

Labour should change it. I hope they do.

Then where do you live? You’re really not thinking this through, are you?

The most recent increase of 10.1% (to all benefits, not just state pension) reflected inflation in September 2022. This year, the increase is likely to be calculated on earnings growth, so likely to be roughly 7%, or so I have read.

oh simple as that @Jamtartforme ?
and go where?

Cheaper house? Flat?

Gordon Brown introduced the 2.5% annual uplift, when he was Chancellor in the first Blair government IIRC.

What if you’re already living in a cheap house or a flat?

feck have you seen the prices of flats?
i though you might say a bungalow? ho ho
@Jamtartforme

And the costs of moving? SDLT? As @IClaudine suggests look at probate sales to see how little maintenance most pensioners can afford to do in their last years.

in the meantime a pensioner still has to pay for the upkeep of the accommodation
the boiler,
whatever else could go wrong and install a walk in shower/stair lift to accommodate their decline in age
they could move to a retirement flat which of course costs a Fortune

Moving house is a huge upheaval. Some older people will be too frail to face that. Others will have had their homes adapted with stairlifts etc. to maintain independence and there will be a shortage of suitable properties that they could move into. If older people sell up in large numbers and move into smaller properties that is not going to help younger people get onto the property ladder.

I could list many more reasons why it is not always possible or a good idea for people to sell up and downsize. Many simply won't want to leave the place they have worked hard for and lived in for many years.

Cheaper house, flat - that's what all the young first time buyers want. If the pensioners are all downsizing they'll price the first time buyers out as they don't need a mortgage

Not only expensive, but many are an absolute scam, especially when it comes to selling them.

You put it way better than I did