I’ve easily found £30bn of savings, so why can’t the government do this?

[OwnGravityField]

How about this state pension adjustment proposal?

Currently, the state pension system pays the same to everyone, even to households with very large private pensions and investment incomes. Much of this money ends up funding luxuries.

The proposal is simple:
*full SP for everyone who depends on it (60% of pensioners)
*households with more than £12,000 a year from private pensions, work, or investments have 50p of SP withdrawn for every £1 above that level, up to the value of the pension itself
*A quarter of pensioners would only have a modest reduction, and only the wealthiest 15% would no longer receive a publicly funded pension they do not need.

I used chatGPT to do the calculations.

Savings? THIRTY BILLION A YEAR

That’s 1% of GDP

List of things that could improve?

restored trust between generations so young taxpayers see their money spent on genuine need, not luxury.

national renewal: homes, NHS, lower childcare costs, investment in schools, training, the police force. It could be used to help families who are struggling with mortgage costs.

re-directing spending from low-value consumption (luxuries, imports) to investment (homes, healthcare, infrastructure) improves living standards

Positive effect on the bond markets, sterling value, credit-rating agencies, inflation trends, reduction in government debt - the UK really really needs this right now

I’d absolutely get up off my bum and vote for a party that proposed this. Would you?

I'd track it back the Thatcher for selling off everything that wasn't nailed down.

Not to mention the blueprint for signing off everyone they could onto the sick to hide the unemployment figures. She was the architect of what’s happening now.

So your argument is that people working in essential jobs shouldn't have secure housing or children?

Seems a bit short sighted.

Actually I think the opposite is true.
People doing those sort of jobs used to be able to get council housing and raise children in the pass. They felt a family was something they did have a right to have and could afford to have.
Not true anymore. Look at birth rates.

💯 true.
There is no security for this choice anymore.

They will have children regardless. It's the higher earners who are opting out of parenthood.

The virtual extinction of council housing for most people definitely has a lot to answer for.

So they should have children, but not earn enough to have secure housing?

Are you not considering that we need people to do these jobs?

I haven't said they should have children, I have said they will. And yes we need people to do these jobs.

@Rosscameasdoody just posted this on another thread- it was always a disaster in the making and so has come to pass- I predicted 35 years for it to finally come to fruition and cause major issues-and yep I was about right

So you support taxation to fund the building of secure affordable housing?

Not sure how you have put 2+2 together to make 5. If people want to have children and house a family, then that is their responsibility, not the responsibility of the state.

Everyone had a meltdown when they suggested means testing winter fuel payment for pensioners. It's a similar argument in many ways - why do pensioners who are wealthy need more money from the state to pay for their heating? So I struggle to see how it would be a vote winner.

It was the way it was done. The current way is correct. My mother and MIL don't need it. MIL always donated hers to charity.

There are plenty of idiocies. I have had free prescriptions since I was 31 because I need levothyroxine for surgery induced hypothyroidism. I can rationalise the free levo but not other prescriptions I have needed. Prescriptions are free for all over 60 - yet we are expected to work until 66/67/68. Ditto free eye tests.

The roots of the decline can more fairly be traced back to Gordon and Tony…

The right to buy and the massive discount on the purchase price of a council house was brilliant for my parents.

What's not working now is people stuck with massive rental prices due to lack of council houses and houses being built with a 2 bedroom starting at £220000.
Labour is fixing anything.
They should be given a short period to make massive changes or just call a general election as it's not working.
The French would bring their country to a standstill if this chaotic situation wasn't being bought under control

They should be given a short period to make massive changes or just call a general election as it's not working."

It isn't easy to turn an economy around. I wish Rachel Reeves the best of luck. Apart from damage from the Brexit decision, from my 5000 mile perspective, an awful lot of people in the UK are not willing to take any responsiblity at all.

Too late to edit my post above, the first line should have been tagged as a quote from @Yellowshirt at 18:17

Am I taking more out than I’ve put in? State pension might get it for 10-15 years at 12k a year.

Average life expectancy at UK state pension age is 18 years for men & 21 years for women so you should receive your pension for more than 10-15 years.

The UK pension is low to comparable countries, we still have later retirements than many, though they are catching up. We have similar demographics and GDP and debt to France for example but pensioners are worse off.

We do not overpay pensioners.

I remember when killing grannies by cutting pensions was seen as a terrible right wing way to save a few quid but now apparently it would be the policy of the people. Does no one remember old ladies living on cat food, tea and biscuits in the dark and cold because they had no money? I suppose if you’re understanding of pensioners is middle class final salary folks jetting off to the Bahamas every 5 weeks then you probably don’t understand, but if that is your understanding of pensioners you’re living a very privileged life yourself.

OK but that's an average and many people will live fewer years than that and others will live longer. MIL and mother have already exceeded it at 89 but father and FIL died at 71 and 78 respectively.

If I get 21 years that's the equivalent of about £250,000. Since 1981 I've paid in far, far more than that just in NI and income tax: add on IHT, CGT, stamp duty, rates/community charge and VAT and the Chancellor's laughing all the way to the bank.

Someone upthread noted that others had had education, health roads, emergency services, etc, for free. I've thought for a long time that we should have a cost calculator opened at birth. We start with zero, there's an annual figure debited for defence and infrastructure, NHS interactions, state education interractions, benefit payments, etc. It would be good to see how much individuals had taken or contributed (repaid) at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 etc.

Someone upthread noted that others had had education, health roads, emergency services, etc, for free. I've thought for a long time that we should have a cost calculator opened at birth. We start with zero, there's an annual figure debited for defence and infrastructure, NHS interactions, state education interractions, benefit payments, etc. It would be good to see how much individuals had taken or contributed (repaid) at 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 etc.

While this would be interesting, I’m not sure I’d trust any government - whatever their politics - with that data!

This definitely.

The calculation is made more difficult by the fact that we all benefit from living in a country where other people are educated and healthy.