An extra hubdred for OAPS?

[RaggedRocks]

The government wants us to keep cash at home for emergencies. Many pensioners are struggling to pay their bills and don't have a spare 100 quid.

AIBU to think that they should add an extra hundred onto the WFA in the budget, so oldies can have some spare cash to keep for the coming emergency. Also consider an extra hundred for UC recipients.

I saved for almost 18 years, still can't afford a decent home.

Perversely, because I was sensible and I have too much savings, I'm not entitled to universal credit whilst other people who spent recklessly in their youth or who current own their own homes are entitled to it!

So no. I'm not feeling inclined to be more generous right now.

YABU. You do not define how many pensioners are struggling. Not all are by a long stretch. If we're not being specific, many pensioners have paid off their mortgage, many pensioners are quite comfortable, many pensioners made proper pension provision rather than expect handouts. So why should the pensioners doing OK get a bit extra when there are working people struggling?

I'm retired BTW, but get sick of other retired people always expecting more just because they're old!

Fucking ridiculous idea. This pensioner gives her WFA to the food bank, any other windfall would go the same way.

BTW I don't think the government should give extra money away so people have a stash.
Because lots would just spend it then be out with the begging bowl when shit happens.

But I don't think its a bad idea for people to do the thing of setting aside a bit of cash every week even if its a couple of pounds a week, then they'd have £100 in a year.

And this is a good reason why the country should never go cashless

And it will be recouped in their tax bill.

It's weird how some people believe all pensioners have the same quality of life and disposable income as each other. Ditto "working people".

How is a single person on a state pension better off than a single working person who earns £150K plus?

The entire population of working people is not uniquely made up of single mums working for minimum wage with 3 children to support.

Some people are well off and some are not. That's spread across every demographic!

Could be same said for any government income, eg, child benefit - does it always get spent on the child? PIP - does it always get spent on items appropriate to the person’s disability? Carers allowance - does the money get spent on making life better for the person being cared for? And so on….

Hold on you are comparing an OAP on solely a state pension and someone earning £150k.

The person earning this sort of money will be in a senior management position and having a lot of responsibility. The OAP - well what have they been doing work wise before they retired to just have a state pension?

They could have retired last week from a senior management position. Which is why it’s a bonkers idea.

People make all sorts of decisions some of which are very poor. Giving them endless handouts is really not the answer to solving the issue. My late Father lived in compete squalor. His house was unsafe. If you saw pictures of it it could be a Age UK advert for supporting this sort of pensioner when in fact he was wealthy. He just chose to not spend his money on his house or anything really. He literally hoarded his money and looked for everyone benefit going. He harassed me to renew his AA because he knew it wasnt means tested.

I would love to see budgeting lessons at school, mortgages, showing students how rentals work etc.

If someone is soley on a SP then they wont have had a senior management position.

More women live in pension poverty than men. Many will have had not a penny in employers contribution until 2018
Many women will have spent much of their working life before the Sex Discrimination Act took effect - and then had to catch up. Of course attitudes and prejudice outlasted the legislation for decades
Many will have been in low paid jobs
They brought up their children without Tax Credits, UC, or free nursery hours .
Many older women saw their jobs disappear in Covid and not be able to work their last few intended years to save afterwards

People need to be taught how to budget and manage their money. I saw One Born Every Minute the other night. There was a couple unmarried having their fourth child whilst living in a 2 bed flat.

To me that is a very foolish choice

They might be if they could afford to defer their occupational pension for a bit.

Yet younger MN posters berate them for not paying into a pension, disregarding the fact that for many, it just wasn't possible in the way it is now. Then in the next breath, have every sympathy with their generation, who just 'can't afford' to pay into a pension scheme handed to them on a plate.
The rhetoric that young people's circumstances are uniquely awful is really gathreing pace now, and 'not being able to afford' to pay into a pension is largely met with sympathy. As the outside world is nowhere near as obsessed with pensions as MNetters are, this is the next ticking timebomb coming down the track.

Well, actually, it is effectively means-tested. Those with taxable incomes of £35,000 or less receive it and keep it, while those earning over £35,000 have it recovered through the tax system.

So no, it isn’t a benefit that all pensioners get to keep. Only those with incomes of £35,000 or less retain the full payment.

If you receive £200 and then have £200 recovered through tax, you’re back where you started. Receiving a payment isn’t the same as benefiting from it.

No what they do is they compare the ‘general’ position. Nobody is stupid enough to think that all people fit perfectly into a little box, but we have to speak about the average person in the average position, because how else would comparisons be made.

wow 🙄

They’ll all be along to tell you how much better off their kids are soon though 🤣

Anyway, this is just pie on the sky pensioner bashing rage bait.

No one is going to give pensioners or anyone else £100 to stash under their mattress.

The Gvt advice has given me food for thought actually that keeping enough cash for half a tank of petrol, a couple of pints of milk and £20 in case I need to bribe someone might be a good idea.

Every one of my formerly working class relatives has multiple holidays a year now they’re retired. Us millennials (and our kids) will never be able to do that (in general, not individuals)

Two of ours are, two aren’t. ☺️

Many many elderly people are living in houses they brought for pennies. My late parent brought his house in the 1960's for £5k and then stayed in it. It was in a complete state when he moved into care and muggins here had to sort it all out.

My late Mum had a pension. My late MIL had a pension. My MIL connected by marriage re my SIL never worked. Never wanted to and apparently didnt have the time as she was bringing up two children. There was mortgage relief and child benefit. The women who didnt work didnt have to commute into offices, do a good job, not worrk about annual appraisals etc. They just stayed at 'home@.

Same. Well said.

❤️

Hopefully that continues for them into retirement and they both get into the better position. It will be very difficult though.

I have my 18 year old so financially savvy that he will be buying the minute he gets the opportunity and saving and overpaying hard to try to avoid things being worse for him. He already got a credit card to build up his credit rating and puts his petrol on and clears it.

Think this through, please. You said

Many women will have spent much of their working life before the Sex Discrimination Act took effect - and then had to catch up.

The Act came into force on 29 December 1975. So women who'd spent 'much' of their working life already by then - let's say they'd be at least 40 - would now be 91. Most of those women won't even be alive.

You're not wrong that attitudes take longer to overcome. But you are saying some things that just aren't accurate in your eagerness to push this narrative. Are you recommending only women pensioners get this payment, by the way?