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

That's a very reductive description of what op said. Why do that?

The amount quoted this morning, will work out as a 5% rise to my Mum's pension. Obviously I'm happy for her and others, but how many others will be getting a 5% pay rise on benefits and particular those that are working and currently funding the system.

I totally understand most have paid into the system and should now take from it, but how many really need that amount on retirement. We've both taken early retirement, living on DH's work pension of £2,100 - we pay the bills, go away, to to the pub for lunch, do gym/exercise classes. We stopped paying into mine when DD was little as money was very tight, so my pension is minimal - and I think we'll use it for fun, household emergenices (got house together in last five years as money became available, so only things that could be expensive in next few years are flooring and boiler), maybe replacing car later on (just done that). When we both get our old age pension, we'll be really well off and our government pension will be excess.

Sooo ... are you saying that pensioners should just be left 'to get on with it' as best they can, whilst their real income dwindles rather than keeping pace with inflation? Remember, they are the ones who have already 'paid in' all their working lives and should be properly looked after,

Cut the foreign aid. Stop giving out so much in benefits. Leave the old folk alone.

Same. Or both. Everything needs to be addressed as the country is drowning in debt.

55% of the benefit bill is pensions...

I can’t disagree, but as a 54 year old who has paid NI, tax etc, it will fuck me off.
I am someone who would pay an extra couple of pence income tax happily, ecstatically, in fact, if it would genuinely improve things for our young people (includes my young adult DCs) who have had an absolutely shit deal for over a decade from the state, but I can’t lie and say getting rid of triple lock wouldn’t sting.
With cost of living and high inflation, how do pensioners live if their pension doesn’t increase enough? If we had more wars, another Covid type event?
I do believe under 25s should not be paying any type of NI (employers included) as they will have many years of contributions to make and I don’t want to see them shafted further on down the line.

Where does the extra £8250 come from?

Agree. It's not a zero sum game and it's not pensions versus welfare (although pension do make up the lion's share of the welfare budget).

The country is in too much debt and is spending a fortune just in interest. The national debt increases by £5k every second. How can that be sustainable?

I don’tunderstand this.

If you rely on the state pension alone, then you very much do need the triple lock.

I have a small pension as well as the state pension and I pay tax on everything above my personal allowance, which obviously is going to include state pension income.

Good idea. Let's get employers paying an actual living wage so that people working full time don't need to be topped up by UC to pay for basics.

Thats what you mean, yes?

People choosing not to have children is precisely the reason we can't afford the triple lock. It is only affordable in a world where we continually have enough people working and paying tax to cover the cost of the pensions. With the rapidly decreasing fertility rate we cant afford a benefit that will perpetually increase more than inflation. It will bankrupt is at some point so the question is when does it get scrapped not should we. IMO it should be linked to the average increase in wages so that everyone has a vested interest in ensuring policies that benefit those who are working.

And no private pension to live off?

The Triple Lock!

No child care paid by the state.

Where did you get that figure? From unbiased the average income for a single pensioner is £17,264, with 69% of people have income from a private pension

Yes and no.

We seem to be importing huge numbers of ready grown humans and if we add to that the diminishing work possibilities because of AI then I think we need to reconsider whether just how many children will be needed, ti put it bluntly.

We could afford anything we like if we taxed the really wealthy

the companies profiteering from high oil prices , the fortunes raked in by water companies

give me a tax bill I pay when I die from wealth I haven’t earned myself - simply benefitted from the obscene rise in house values

take it off those with lots of money when they no longer need it - you can’t eat bricks and mortar after all - rather than shafting them when they are older and then rubbing your hands gleefully at the inheritance you think is your right

We have enough people.

Trouble is they choose not to work.

Love this, and I always think the same when I listen to that song.

Op, well I didn't seem to qualify for any childcare when my son was born, despite being single (because my then-husband decided going abroad was apparently more fun than raising our child) and didn't have a penny to my name. So I have little sympathy for those who whinge about not getting enough when the system is so generous already.

I've been paying out on NI and taxes since the 90s, never had a work break, and get very little back.

There are still people alive who fought & lived through World War 2.
Plus the difficult years that followed of rationing & rebuilding

Have some respect for your elders

I am all for pension increases

well quite, that is how a threshold works.

All those uneducated people who don't know the difference between 'too' and 'to'? Sorry, couldn't resist that 😂. Obviously just a typo. Brexit should never have gone ahead. Referendums (referenda? - sorry, uneducated 😄) are merely advisory, and the result isn't binding. Yet the Government allowed the country to be derailed by people who didn't understand what they were voting for. Even if everyone who voted leave were to have a change of heart it wouldn't help. A country can't just rejoin the EU, sadly.

Judging by the likes of my comment, plenty agree with me too! 😊

You can work all your life, contribute to a modest occupational pension, and end up being taxed on it.

You can contribute zero, piss your money up the wall, and get pension credit and all the freebies that go with it.

The system is utterly corrupt.