To think we can't afford the triple lock

[paddleboardingmum]

Things seem very weighted against young people right now in terms of tax, student loans, and then there's the cost of mortgages and childcare. I know there are some older people struggling and I do feel sorry for them. But plenty are not and I think we just can't afford the triple lock at the moment. AIBU

You literally only need to read MN every day to see post after post about perfectly healthy adult children who aren’t working due to ‘anxiety’ or various other spurious bs under the guise of mental health. I have worked with unemployed adults in various roles and it is practically an epidemic amongst the under 30s. Any party that will finally come down hard on benefits scroungers and the work-shy would get my vote.

Lots of pensions are going to be toast.

Triple lock going wont be a choice. It will be a necessity.

I also read MN every day and see people in their 30s/40s etc who are highly qualified and struggling to find work too. People in their 50s are giving up due to ageism.
The job market right now is awful.

There are not enough jobs for people who are well, able, and wanting to do them.
What is to be gained by cutting benefits from people who are already trying their best?

And mine.

How would cutting benefits improve your life?

Pensions are part of the benefits system.

Yes, in SE a very significant proportion of housing would be over 1m. Do they need to sell their family homes and move?

Yes, or take a lodger, if they need more money. What an extremely privileged position to be in.

So disabled people should just rot?...wow

Like what? WFA? what else?

What is your point?
Of course benefits for working age people should be means tested.

How would cutting benefits improve your life?

Are you serious asking this question?
If yes, let me try - 25% of my taxes go to welfare bill. If you worked you could check your HMRC self assessment page and see the split. It's 25% of all my taxes!

Cutting benefits would force significant part of population into work, they'd grow economy and pay taxes, no matter how small. So less tax take and more tax generate. The amounts saved could be invested in defense, education, NHS, police, roads, etc. This would also allow to reduce some taxes, e.g. employers NI, so they could hire more people and grow economy even more. It would also allow to reduce personal taxes at some point.

So cutting benefits bill would benefit all taxpayers, me included, hugely.

As to your ongoing "there are no jobs" - there are jobs, plenty, just not necessarily desirable ones, and we have to import labour en masse from abroad because our system allows locals to sit on their bums doing nothing. Then after 5 years this cheap low skilled imported labour is finally allowed to get ILR and gets access to all benefits and then bring families in. Rinse and repeat. These people do nothing wrong, they try to get the best out of the system. But the system is very wrong and needs fundamental rethink.

And yes, whichever party will promise shake up of benefits system will get my vote (unless it's Reform).

so you agree that all non working benefits claimants should be moved to the cheapest areas in the country? where they can afford to leave on the lowest subsidy?
It's the same logic.

so you agree that all non working benefits claimants should be moved to the cheapest areas in the country? where they can afford to leave on the lowest subsidy?
It's the same logic.

Why is that 'the same logic' as pensioners downsizing from a £1million house? they don't have to move area.

Just to be clear all I am saying is about the triple lock. Not ending pensions, not asking people to move or anything else. But there feels to be a lot of entitlement from a few posters on this thread who seem very oblivious to what's actually going on right now for a lot of working age people.

The UK already has one of the lowest pension rates in Europe. Totally shameful that we do not look after our older people. So no, I don't think we should get rid of them triple lock. Unless it is replaced by something that increases the pension by more.
Dont forget, we will all become pensioners at some point.

The triple lock was introduced 16 years ago, in 2010. To qualify for a full state pension, you need 35 qualifying years of contributions.
The idea that anyone who is receiving a pension now was paying their NI for the majority of their working life under the impression that they would be receiving a triple-locked benefit is just a giant fib. For current retirees, it has only been in place since they were 50 or older.
However, at some point in the future the flawed design that it must increase annually by the greatest one of three variables (and therefore increases at a greater rate than both wages and inflation) will mean the lock has to be removed. If the government at that time tries to remove the lock from people who actually had been funding other people's triple locked pensions for most of their working lives there will be total uproar.

too late to edit my previous post so here we go

Why is it so hard to get a tradesman? | Mumsnet

It's close to impossible to find a tradesman, especially a good one.
No jobs you say?

No one becomes a trades person overnight. It takes a few a years of training.
So you could tell a NEET to learn a trade, but they wont be realistically earning a decent pay for a few years.
Also, there is a ton of competition for custom if you look on local FB groups. They are all using AI slop flyers too.

Look people who've contributed via NI deserve something because they paid into NI thinking they'll get something back. Arguably maybe people currently paying into NI can have it stopped and given back.

We need to eventually not really have a state pension

It's basically a Ponzi scheme. There's nothing else to do. We need to change it can't go on

This - l agree is mismanagement which got the country in the mess it's in.
Like buying gas from Norway when there's plenty in the North sea as an example.

Having looked at the whole 7 posts on that thread... none of which prove your point.

You suggest they sell the house which they paid for because state pension wouldn't be enough to live on. They most likely would have to move area to find a cheaper property.
State pension is lower then benefits for working age adults.

The same logic applies - why non-working people of working age are entitled to live in a specific area at taxpayer's expense? they have to move to areas where they can afford to live or where it's cheapest for taxpayer.

Local housing allowance rate for one bed in Westminster is 331.39 per week
Local housing allowance rate for one bed in Shildon (DL4) is £90.50 per week

Move all unemployed benefits claimants from Westminster to Shildon, there are 6.2k of them according to google, and you save 12.5k pa per claimant x 6.2k claimants = 77m savings in one council alone.

Would you object this?

Are there 6.2k spare homes in Shildon then? lol just silly.

They all prove my point - there is a lot of demand, a lot of jobs to be done, there is not enough supply of labour.

And this in only one post in the middle of the night.

My friends and former colleagues all struggle to recruit professional roles, some are very high paying ones. Those who try to recruit in IT say that 90% of applicants are here on visas and looking for another employer sponsor, they don't even receive any British CVs anymore. We're talking about 600+/day rate

My friends and former colleagues all struggle to recruit professional roles, some are very high paying ones
they don't even receive any British CVs anymore

What roles are these? sounds like cobblers.

Anyway nobody is saying pensions shouldn't be a thing or that they shouldn't be increased. The thread is about scrapping the triple lock.

I hear you, but when you quite reasonably say 'The triple lock was never intended to be in place forever, has arguably by now done its job, and it might make sense for the state pension to just increase in line with inflation from now on', what a lot of MNers evidently hear is 'I hate pensioners so strip them all of everything and throw them into workhouses the scrounging bastards'. It is almost impossible to have a sensible discussion on it.