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.

Thatcher’s policies drove a wrecking ball through the bonds of social collectivism across generations, replacing it with individual and familial responsibility. Decades later, exacerbated by austerity, the memory of this social contract is not easily recalled

From one of your links?

On a personal level I was "let go" for being pregnant in 1996. Pension provision wasn't at the forefront of my mind.

Is this your pension contributions? https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/civil-service-employee-benefits/ Do you still get 27 percent contribution from tax payers?

Matt sums it up

I suppose Starmer could always abandon the triple lock and give you your £200-£300 back.

https://www.civilservant.org.uk/information-pensions.html

If that’s what you think then you might want to read this for the true story.

I'm going to use teachers as an example. The current average for a teacher is around £9300 'company' pension on top of the state pension. That's going to be in the region of just over £20k annually. Not a bad amount to live on when the vast majority are by that point rent and mortgage free.

Im SO glad someone else remembers this re. the 90s. I got totally gaslighted on here when i talked about the fact that back then there were jobs advertised in the Job Centre (pre minimum wage and post disbanding of the Low Pay Unit) that paid £1.50 an hour or £50 a week People talk about how prosperous the 90s were Well not for everyone. If i had taken a job at £50 an hour when my rent was £48 a week i would have been fucked! No extra help then unless you had living proof that you had had sex without contraception. When Gordon Brown introduced working tax credit it finally included those without kids.

That poster wasn’t talking about teachers. They were talking about civil service pensions, which prompted my response - about civil service pensions. People don’t appear to understand that the so called ‘gold plated pensions’ never applied to all civil servants - they were for those in very senior roles. And the final salary scheme closed in 2007.

Im so sorry for you.

This is what that horrible party do. They take money from hard wofmkgm ppl and give it to people who have zero interest in working or criminals who sneak their way into this country and have also no intention of working and contributing to society.

Perhaps if the country hadn't be run by criminals for the past 12 years we'd all be doing better.

I thought that was the Tories? Were you asleep during Covid?

Do you have any evidence that this is happening?

i pay 1400 people a week. less than 5% of them are in the company pension, they rest either opted out (very high opt out rate and a very small % are not eligible.

I highly doubt the 95% have private pensions, some will, most wont.

On our monthly payroll, i can count on 1 hand the amount of people that put in a higher than basic %.

People are just not planning - mostly because they want the money now, not in the future.

In my role, i don't see people seriously planning until they are in their 50's, by that i mean at bonus time, the over 50's tend to put half or more in their pension and get the tax relief on it, but the younger ones aren't. Could they be putting it in to a private pension? Maybe. But unlikely.

I only do the basic, i have about 8 pension pots sitting in different providers from different auto enrolement schemes. One day i may bother to look at them all but i never even think about it until i see a thread on MN.

@Spectre8 - Yes, this 100%.

People are just not planning - mostly because they want the money now, not in the future

Obviously some people "need" the money now because they just can't afford the pension payments. That's one thing.

But the fact is, to really benefit from pensions saving, you need to either be ploughing in a lot and/or have started from a very young age. I know 2 people right now both in their 50s. They both rent their homes. Both haven't been paying into a pension for long and they're not high earners. I don't think they realise how little this will give them back. And that the tiny amount they receive will be reduced from either their housing benefit or council tax relief once they retire. They won't see a penny of it.

I had the same choice and opted out. Between now and when I stop working, I can afford a nice holiday every year with the money I'm not paying into a pension. I couldn't afford one otherwise. I'm going to take it now while I've got the chance! While I'm still alive and relatively well.

I'm aware I'm taking a selfish attitude. But my point is, not everyone is not paying into a pension due to ignorance. Some like me have worked it out and realised it isn't worth it for us. The stance of "any pension is better than none" just isn't true in all cases. If I were a young person now then obviously I would do things differently but at my age it is genuinely too late.

And then pensioners complain about not getting the fuel allowance. I bet they are also the ones who chose holidays over pension savings!

While simultaneously moaning that they’ve worked all their life!

@ATenShun You are still missing the point - no-one says all pensioners should have a WFP. But there are people who worked all their lives - from 14 or 16 in some cases - who income was never enough to build up much private pension and who now find that what they did manage to save takes them only 50p or £1 a week above the level at which they could claim pension credit - so not only WFP but also help to insulate their homes.

Single pensioners, especially those over 80 (mostly female but some male) are one of the groups likely to be in poverty - and also to have poor health.

This group also, for technical reasons related to the old state pension, wont get next year the cash increase to their pensions the government talks about. They always quote figures for the NEW state pension knowing that the pensioners in fuel poverty will be the ones not getting it.

The Labour Party's own figures forecast their would be deaths. They could have done something to mitigate this but they dont want to do so.

I'm a pensioner. I'm not moaning. I have worked all my life and lived alongside health issues.
Things don't all run in straight lines. its not called the sandwich generation for nothing.

The bit about not getting the WFA if you're born after 23rd September 1958,regardless of what benefits you're on? I didn't know that. I thought that if you claimed pension credit to top up your pension that you would be eligible for it.

And so today, inspired by the increased intergenerational angst and fugue on MN caused by the WFA announcement, I deliberately stopped my car twice today to allow an elderly person safe passage across the road.

On the second occasion, I was extremely pleased to see that a very large HGV travelling in the opposite direction also decided to stop to allow the elderly person to safely cross the road; the smiles of pleasure all round completely made my day.

I often do the same thing when I see a parent with young children too.

But at least you are looking at it and assessing the benefit to you. You will also be aware that when retirement comes, you will have a lower standard of life on a state pension.

I deliberately stopped my car twice today to allow an elderly person safe passage across the road

OMG car stops for oldie! Unbelievable.

I don't think anyone has said that everyone who worked in civil service jobs got great pensions. But those that didn't, did have the other pension options that are offered to the rest of us.

It just means that those who are not of pension age (66) by 22nd September 2024 won't get this year's WFA. They will get it next year if they are on Pension Credit or another qualifying benefit. WFA has always worked that way, there is always a September cut off date. I expect it is because it makes it easier to administer.

Absolutely. But I can't do anything to change that at this stage. So I may as well have a good life up until I retire! No point suffering now for a pittance that wouldn't help me later anyway.

In all honesty, I already find all the faff of travelling is becoming too much for me. I will be more than ready to give that up on retirement. Aware others will feel differently, but that's how I feel. I've done the sums, state pension will cover my living costs and provide a little extra for my very cheap hobbies, the odd coffee/lunch out etc. I'm fine with that.

Many people will want "more" from retirement. But I'm a homebody, happy pottering around the house and garden. I live in London and will have my 60+ oyster card so there will be things I can get out and do if I want to. I'm genuinely looking forward to it!