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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To give you the pensioners facts

503 replies

Moier · 09/09/2024 14:25

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
Vikina · 09/09/2024 16:52

This thread really is horrible. There are well off people of all ages. There are people in poverty of all ages. Pitting one age group against the other is just awful.

Boomer55 · 09/09/2024 16:54

Vikina · 09/09/2024 16:52

This thread really is horrible. There are well off people of all ages. There are people in poverty of all ages. Pitting one age group against the other is just awful.

Governments, of all colours, love it. It takes the heat off of them. 🙄

eggplant16 · 09/09/2024 16:54

They also get endless freebies and discounts

Who is they here please?

Pudmyboy · 09/09/2024 16:55

Itsmahoneybaloney · 09/09/2024 14:33

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

What if OP was a SAHM and/or carer: not an unusual circumstance for women!!!

mummymeister · 09/09/2024 16:55

Why, why why are we letting politicians divide us based on our age. Why. they are loving this. the fact that some younger people are saying tough you should have taken a private pension and saved whilst some older people are saying we were promised...

Cant you see its a distraction technique. I would be prepared to put a fiver on the following:

  1. in the budget there are lots of punitive measures hitting the well off which is basically the middle class (so anyone above benefits threshold because you are middle class)
  2. there will be big tax hits on corporations
  3. petrol, cigarettes etc all duties going up

so basically the goal posts on everything are shifting several paces. and all based on the lie that its so bad even pensioners are losing their WFA so you well off middle class stop complaining and take your medicine. and when we have all accepted being moved those several steps in one direction, hallelujah the govt open a drawer and yes find the exact amount they need to pay the winter fuel allowance because they have "listened" or "been prudent" or "governed better" or whatever. Its just a ruse people to make us all think it must be truly absolutely dire if pensioners are being "robbed" of their heating money. Its a ruse to get the middle classes ie anyone in work, not on benefits to pay more in tax. Whilst we are all busy getting cross with different generations we arent looking at what they are up to. classic political moves.

needhelpwiththisplease · 09/09/2024 16:55

@Vikina but while we are all fighting amongst ourselves. We are not standing together and fighting the government.
It's always been the same

GoogleWhacking · 09/09/2024 16:56

Moier · 09/09/2024 15:54

You haven't read my posts have you
This is for some of my peers.
I didn't say other wise.

Where on earth have l said l personally don't have private pension?
This post l put is for pensioners in general ( some of my peers mainly).
I personally don't need my pension and won't be claiming it .
If you have read any of my previous posts.
When l was younger an abusive ex threw me under a bus and left me for dead. I was in a coma and left severely disabled.
He got jailed and it took me 16 years to get justice and a big pay out..
I haven't had a relationship scince .
I don't have a vagina any more.. my pelvis got crushed.. my hips / jaw/ ribs/ skull got broken.
Well actually most of my body.
I was on DLA before my payout.. l don't need to claim anything.
Some say I'm lucky to have a few million.
Rather have my body and mental health back.
My post was for those born after 23rd of September.
Not me personally.
I will be still helping my family and friends who have been there for me financially.

Really not sure why you keep posting your original post. Seems like you want some sympathy, I'm sorry that happened to you, however, by your own admission you are not really impacted by this so I'm not sure why you felt the need to start a thread posting half the facts and trying to get people riled up based on half the truth.

Grammarnut · 09/09/2024 16:56

MissUnlocked · 09/09/2024 14:26

This is all common knowledge anyway?

Apparently not. I did not know it and I am a pensioner. I am not eligible for any extra benefits, however.

Isitsixoclockalready · 09/09/2024 16:56

Moier · 09/09/2024 14:25

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.

To be fair, it would be silly for anyone to make a blanket statement that pensioners are 'well off'.

Sparklingnorthernlights · 09/09/2024 16:56

The thread has referenced bedroom tax multiple times. Is it applied to all homeowners and renters within the council tax payment?
If you move to a smaller property is it reduced?

I thought council tax was judged per individual council and the property banding?

Happyher · 09/09/2024 16:57

Vikina · 09/09/2024 16:52

This thread really is horrible. There are well off people of all ages. There are people in poverty of all ages. Pitting one age group against the other is just awful.

I agree - the media seem hell bent on creating division in the country. The country is broke and we will all make sacrifices. Let’s wait for the budget to see what measures they will take raise more fundst

QueryA · 09/09/2024 16:58

I don't get why there is such outrage over the winter fuel allowance. Its not even £5 a week. I appreciate that if you are on the very basic of pensions, at £221 a week as above, then £5 a week matters, but those on those very low incomes still get it! Its the 80% of pensioners who don't need it where the government will be saving money.

PfishFood · 09/09/2024 16:58

ATenShun · 09/09/2024 14:38

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

If a pensioner is still paying rent, rather than living mortgage free, it's more likely because they could never afford to buy. If they can't have afforded to buy their own property, they definitely couldn't afford private pensions.

My parents are in this situation. Luckily my DF worked for the armed forces and later local government so had decent pensions with that. When he left the services he was only able to take low paid jobs and my DM wasn't able to work, so they were never in a position to buy their own home. So even though they're in their 70s they're still having to pay £800 a month in rent.

As I say, thankfully my DF did have some decent private pensions, because otherwise it would be very difficult for them on just State pension alone.

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 16:59

@YellowComb - full time mother? Does that mean mothers who go/went out to work are part time mothers? Or if they work full time, not mothers at all?

Being a mother isn't an alternative to working

Lifeomars · 09/09/2024 17:01

User6874356 · 09/09/2024 14:30

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.

I would hope that they do have some protection, after all they can hardly go on strike. get a better paid job or re-train. I would like to see the same protection applied to people who cannot work due to health and disability issues.

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 17:01

@MidnightPatrol doctors etc have pensions given by the state as they work for the state just like any other employer would contribute to a pension. Doctors contribute via their pay just like everyone else.

Would you consider those on the forces the same?

YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME · 09/09/2024 17:02

What have the last few governments done to us all, that we seem to be at each other's throats, is any of this discussion helping anyone to look at what the real issues are? Not everyone is well off, not everyone has, or will have, a pension that allows for a good quality of retirement, or was even able to acquire one (much has changed with pensions / employment and I fear more changes are to come, so be prepared) far too many have seen wages not follow inflation and the policies of the last few governments, whatever their persuasion (and I am beginning to think they only really care for themselves regardless of party) have got us all infighting, with a constant erosion of what makes us happy and healthy, or am I not seeing things in the right way? So much is wrong and it is not whether someone can / cannot manage with losing a fuel allowance, it is why everything seems to be such a struggle, regardless of age, for an ever increasing majority of us, regardless of age! Why is our government not looking at the whole, as picking on low hanging fruit, without a balanced approach to the whole, seems to be doing no one any good, does it and is it a deliberate policy to set one age group against another? I have just read that a supposed affluent county council is now about to ditch its school food provision, as it can't afford to run it, so who can? A minor thing, yes and no, as that's how we end up with paying into pots where nobody benefits ultimately, when we neglect the basics and somehow magically assume there is always someone, somewhere, with a magic wand to pick up the pieces and there isn't, or at least not from where I sit, which is helping the most deprived in our country. Let's not think one group is an homogenous set of individuals, let's look at how the government is pushing us into making that assumption and ask why? Just my thoughts, but I do think we are being pushed into a way of thinking that is becoming detrimental to us all.

MrRobinsonsQuango · 09/09/2024 17:03

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 16:59

@YellowComb - full time mother? Does that mean mothers who go/went out to work are part time mothers? Or if they work full time, not mothers at all?

Being a mother isn't an alternative to working

Exactly

Fine, if people want to be stay at home parents. Probably shouldn’t if they can’t afford it and don’t contribute to a pension whilst doing it

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 17:04

@MidnightPatrol tax payer don't fund public sector pensions! The current pensions being paid are funded by the current employees making their contributions.

Thatmissingsock · 09/09/2024 17:04

Moier · 09/09/2024 14:25

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.

Don't you have a workplace pension of any sort? Its been common for the last 30 years now for women to work, especially once children were in school.

eggplant16 · 09/09/2024 17:05

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 16:59

@YellowComb - full time mother? Does that mean mothers who go/went out to work are part time mothers? Or if they work full time, not mothers at all?

Being a mother isn't an alternative to working

Perhaps it should be?

Blushingm · 09/09/2024 17:06

@eggplant16 why should it be? Having children is a choice you make, and so not working once you have children is also a choice - why should everyone else find that choice?

User6874356 · 09/09/2024 17:08

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/09/2024 15:23

I was barred from mine as only directors and senior management were allowed ( all men) in 1988

In the 80s personal pensions were a huge thing though. You could have saved into that

Lifeomars · 09/09/2024 17:09

greenbirds · 09/09/2024 16:07

@ExtraOnions Your example of you and your sister doesn't negate my post at all. Just because you both contributed to private pensions, doesn't make it 'the norm'. Many, many people did not and believed that the state pension would suffice. Women especially often had years of not working due to child-rearing responsibilities.

I have no skin in the game - I am nowhere near pension age - it just baffles me how some people deny the reality of how much life has changed over the last 50 years. What is 'the norm' now in terms of pension planning certainly wasn't for many people in the 50s or 60s. Indeed, it would probably shock many MN users how little many people save into their pensions now as they can't afford to or just don't plan that far ahead.

This is so true. I was a single parent and worked part time as full time just meant I would have been no better off as my child care costs would eclipse any extra money. At the time part time workers could not pay into a pension even if their work place did offer one and many did not. I could not afford to pay in for years as I did not get any child support and needed all my earnings to keep us afloat. This is why I have such a small occupational pension and thank god I do as if I only had the state pension I would be screwed. My occupational pension is added to my state pension and I pay income tax on the combined total. Personally I think that raising the personal allowance would help so many people, workers and pensioners alike and also boost the economy as people tend to spend more when they have more.

Itsallaloadofbollocks · 09/09/2024 17:09

Plumpciousness · 09/09/2024 14:41

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!

And the other 10 million + pensioners don't have anywhere near that. Step dad has a works pension of £113/ month on top of his state pension so yeah, rolling in it.