To give you the pensioners facts

[Moier]

So many threads about pensioners being well off.
I've just had my forecast.
I turn 66 in November .
Those born after September 23rd 1958 will not get the winter fuel allowance no matter what credits you are on.
Esa etc etc.
My forecast us £221 per week.
Also pensioners still have to pay rent.
Council house tenants will still pay bedroom tax.
Pensioners won't get council tax reduction.
Unless you have paid into a private pension .. pensioners will be the poorest they have ever been.
And we waited an extra 6 years for bugger all.
Stammer is the theif that has stolen all our golden hours.

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This is all common knowledge anyway?

The bedroom tax doesn't apply to pensioners if you're both pension age

Stammer is the theif that has stolen all our golden hours

Drama 🦙

Pensioners can still get their rent paid if eligible. Also they are exempt from “bedroom tax” (ie they get their whole rent paid if in local authority accommodation.

Single people on uc at working age get £140 a week or so less than pensioners. Pensioners even just on the state pension are certainly not the poorest in society.

as a demographic as a whole, pensioners are the wealthiest. Of course there are poorer pensioners but they do have a much better level of social protection than other demographics.

Other facts:
You can get housing benefit for rent.
You get free transport.
You get free prescriptions.

Why don't you have any private pension? You can still work of course if you prefer.

Seriously who relies solely on the state pension?! That's madness. More fool you for never building up your own pensions or assets.

And if you do work you don’t have to pay NI.

To compare I get £25 a week for my first child and £17 for my other two, in child benefit. £221 a weeks seems loads!
And with no family responsibilities and very often no rent/mortgage, it looks like the life of Riley to me.

I don't think you do have to pay bedroom tax

But the winter fuel allowance was never going be the difference between retirement being a 'golden hour' and not. I think you're being rather over dramatic there.

Presumably if you view retirement as your 'golden hour' you've been saving for many years to fund it anyway?

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/how-have-pensioner-incomes-and-poverty-changed-recent-years

I think this is a more comprehensive view.

Pensioners in low-income households also face a considerably more generous benefit system than working-age households (Cribb and O’Brien, 2022),

Around 74% of pensioner households in 2022–23 owned their home without a mortgage, while 4% owned with a mortgage; 17% of pensioners were social renters and only 5% private renters

Presumably the 1958 cutoff will move, though. It just means it's for people 65 and older.

You must be aware that private pensions were available for decades?

Its a spitful thing to be planning to do. If this had been the Tories there would be riots yet Starmer doesnt seem to cause the same issue. Pay rises for public sector. Train drivers being given a wopping pay rise and no changes in working practises. Gold plated pensions etc etc.

This isnt going to allow growth and if they increase CGT then people will just hold onto their assets and the coffers will be even less than they are now.

Of course there are some pensioners who dont 'need' the money but where do you draw the line. I dont need the state pension because I have a private pension and am also working almost full time in my mid 60's but should it be given to people that chose not to work and very part time and who spend their money as it came in? or people who made poor choice after poor choice? I know that means testing would be a nightmare but the unions are now spouting off saying they will never be satisfied. I get that is the role of the unions. Represent their members and stuff everyone else. I am so near to claiming the State Pension I would be staggered if it was suddenly taken away but this government is picking on the wrong people here.

@YellowComb I presume you are referring to auto enrolment there? Pensions and savings have been around a long time.
Nothing callous about suggesting carrying on working. Plenty of pensioners do, sometimes for money, sometimes for social or other reasons. It's not "callous" at all, but an option, although some have very poor health it's not remotely practical (although that can be the case at any age)

Stammer is the theif that has stolen all our golden hours.

Who doesn’t pay a penny into a private pension and expects their retirement to be their golden hours?

Surely you had your golden hours when you were working and spending all your earned while others saved for their future?

Another fact: over 800,000 over-65s are in the higher rate tax bracket, ie have an income of over £50k.

Most people don't earn that much in salary while they're working, let alone as pension income!

Why didn’t you make any private pension provision for yourself over the past 50 years? I’m in my late 40s, I started paying into my pension the day I started my first proper job. Did you?

The state pension has never been a path to riches, you must surely have been aware in the 1970s and 1980s of all the news stories about pensioner poverty. We are responsible for ourselves - Thatcher made that perfectly clear from 1979 onward.

State pension isn’t high, but it’s hugely higher than benefits for everyone under 66. People under 66, including severely disabled people, don’t get winter fuel handouts. I’d be interested to understand why you think individuals over 66 should have a higher level of income than those under 66?

No-one pays 'bedroom tax'. It's simply the case that people who get help with housing costs, which it is likely that the OP will if she pays rent and doesn't have a lot of savings or a workplace pension (which has been a 'thing' for decades btw) is limited to the size of the home they need, not that this applies to people over state pension age anyway.

Don't get why bedroom tax doesn't apply to the elderly? There must be loads of family homes that could be used for those that need them.

How do you mean?

I was nagged by my employer to take a workplace pension in 1986.

Compulsory workplace pensions only came in 2018.

You must be aware that many women did not earn enough to save via private pensions and lots were full time mothers.

You must be aware that many WASPI women have been deprived of their pension.

Wow!

Smug

You know some people literally have no spare cash to do that, yes?