Triple lock pension rise (or not)

[Old Darwen Blue]

I understand we will hear on the 17th November whether the state pension will increase by 9.9% next April in line with inflation. Should Rishi scrap it again for a second year despite it being part of the election manifesto promise, then I hope they have considered 12 million pensioner votes potentially lost in the next election!

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

Apparently a quarter of pensioners are now millionaires. Whilst many youngsters are now looking at a retirement age of over 70.

The country also just shelled out half a trillion to protect pensioners from an illness which on average killed people in their 80s, which again will need to be paid back by young people over the coming decades.

I know it won’t go down well on here, but all things considered I don’t think funnelling more money to pensioners is very fair at present.

Having said that, I think the 2017 election where the Tories said they’d make the winter fuel allowance means-tested (an absolute no-brainier good policy IMO) nearly cost them that election. So can the Tories ever risk annoying that voter block, probably not.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Millionaire Pensioners have the ability to hand the state pension back if it’s not needed. For pensioners in poverty they don’t have the option of getting a higher paid job like the young can. Also pensioners have paid their taxes and NI for decades. This group need that rise. For savings maybe look at younger people who think they can have children and the state should pay, rather than getting a job.
You’re wrong pal but perfectly entitled to your view.

 

[Drog]

How man pensioners are millionaires when their house value is removed from the equation though?

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

Millionaire Pensioners have the ability to hand the state pension back if it’s not needed. For pensioners in poverty they don’t have the option of getting a higher paid job like the young can. Also pensioners have paid their taxes and NI for decades. This group need that rise. For savings maybe look at younger people who think they can have children and the state should pay, rather than getting a job.
You’re wrong pal but perfectly entitled to your view.

I'd imagine the number of rich pensioners who hand back their state pension, winter fuel allowance etc is about the same as the number of rich people who voluntarily pay more tax, i.e. virtually none. I've no time for dole-dossers either, but there's also a lot of young people who are having to delay having kids to their 30s now because they can't afford them until then.

Some of the current generation of pensioners have it better than anyone will ever have it in all probability. Final salary pensions are an insanity that it took the government far too long to realise were going to bankrupt the country, we won't see them again. And even defined-benefit (as opposed to defined-contribution) pensions are something of a luxury that will be increasingly rare in future.

But I agree when it comes to pensioners, there's the haves and have-nots, which is why making the winter fuel allowance means-tested was a good idea. The Tories should make the state pension means-tested too IMO, then they can make it rise with inflation for the people who need it, and the country won't be any worse off.

 

[Alan]

Pensioners have paid for their pensions all their lives and are not given them, they are entitled to them and it is essential that they keep up with inflation.
You will all be pensioners eventually remember and your tune will change then. This is not "Logan's Run" and pensioners are not expendable. They have paid handsomely for a little pleasure at the end of their lives.

 

[blueandwhitehalves]

"Pensioners have paid for their pensions all their lives". I agree if someone is on state pension and that's it. If they've also got a work pension, then that's been topped up (massively in some cases) by either their employer (private sector) or the taxpayer (public sector).

I got a job in the civil service after my company went bust due to Covid, precisely for the pension, and the rise in what my employer is contributing went from 3% in my old job to 26.5% in this one. That's a massive amount the taxpayer is paying into my pension, and even that's peanuts compared to what civil servants used to get (final salary schemes etc).

When I'm (hopefully) on the golf course and going on cruises at 60-65, drawing on a pension that the taxpayer has already significantly contributed to, I sincerely hope I don't change my tune on issues like this. There are people in society a lot, lot worse off than some pensioners. Equally some pensioners do struggle. Hence my means-tested suggestion.

 

[Drog]

Very true Al. Whats the point of excelling at school, working hard and investing money carefully and responsibly when so many resent that type of person and look upon them as 'favoured' individuals and cash cows who are expected to pay through the nose in income tax, VAt, stamp duty etc etc just to subsidise slackers and the work shy?

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Very true Al. Whats the point of excelling at school, working hard and investing money carefully and responsibly when so many resent that type of person and look upon them as 'favoured' individuals and cash cows who are expected to pay through the nose in income tax, VAt, stamp duty etc etc just to subsidise slackers and the work shy?

That is precisely why I vote Conservative.

 

[Alan]

"Pensioners have paid for their pensions all their lives". I agree if someone is on state pension and that's it. If they've also got a work pension, then that's been topped up (massively in some cases) by either their employer (private sector) or the taxpayer (public sector).

I got a job in the civil service after my company went bust due to Covid, precisely for the pension, and the rise in what my employer is contributing went from 3% in my old job to 26.5% in this one. That's a massive amount the taxpayer is paying into my pension, and even that's peanuts compared to what civil servants used to get (final salary schemes etc).

When I'm (hopefully) on the golf course and going on cruises at 60-65, drawing on a pension that the taxpayer has already significantly contributed to, I sincerely hope I don't change my tune on issues like this. There are people in society a lot, lot worse off than some pensioners. Equally some pensioners do struggle. Hence my means-tested suggestion.

Don't fool yourself that the employers contribution is not part of their salary and contracting out reduces the state pension. We have paid for what we get.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

Don't fool yourself that the employers contribution is not part of their salary and contracting out reduces the state pension. We have paid for what we get.

My employers did contribute a healthy amount towards my pension, however I was aware of that when I started work there. I also contributed 11% of my salary for nearly 30 years! I also will never get the full state pension because of contracting out. If the younger end who choose not to work aren’t happy if they don’t get a 9.9% rise in their benefits then tough, pensioners should get it because they’ve probably worked for the best part of 50 years and deserve the raise.

 

[Old Darwen Blue]

So a 10.1% raise on pensions then!

 

[Alan]

Yes that's OK and my main private pension which is linked to RPI as at December was last published in September at around 14%. It should be more than that by December.