My Pension is going up by almost £5 from this April. Not a bad increase this time around, but the Christmas Bonus still remains at a paltry Tenner!
When this bonus was first introduced, many years ago, it must have been worth something, but these days it's become a joke.
It's about time that our Pensions were re-instated and linked to 'average' male earnings. Only then will the majority of Pensioners be living above the Poverty Line!
Ken R
I see in the paper today that the government is now considering linking pensions to average earnings rather than inflation. Great I thought, it's about time they did something along those lines......but........ in the next paragraph, they say this will be for the over 75s initailly and then gradually be introduced for younger pensioners !
Why can't they just take the bull by the horns and introduce it right across the board, after all, it's what they do with all the so called "taxes " they introduce !
It's pensioners of all ages who are struggling, not just the older ones. In fact it's probably more essential for younger pensioners as they have normally just left full employment and find the drop in income harder to bear. Whilst I have no wish to disparage the older pensioners, they have "cut their cloth" so to speak for 10 or 15 years since retiring and are more used to living on substandard rates of pension.
At the end of the day, all pensioners should be entitled to the rise and at the same time as well !
brian.b
My partner got a whopping 65p every two weeks in her Income Support, while I got an Incredible 85p every two weeks in my Incapacity Benefit. We can't make our mind up where to go for a holiday with it.
Sylvia
I read it too Ken, not much of a silver lining is it?
WAIT TILL YOU’RE 75 TO GET A PROPER PENSION
Labour’s pensions policy descended further into chaos yesterday as it emerged that people may have to wait until 75 to get a decent payment from the state.
Gordon Brown has backed down and agreed to restore the link between pensions and earnings, Whitehall sources say. But only those aged 75 and over would get the new enhanced pension. Millions of others would be left to cope at the current level of £114.05 a week for single pensioners and £174.05 for couples. Currently, pension increases are pegged to prices, which have usually risen much more slowly than wages.
The Chancellor has fought a fierce Cabinet battle against restoring any kind of earnings link. Pensions expert Ros Altmann, who has advised both Mr Brown and the Prime Minister, said she was sceptical about the plans. “This is just going to add another level of complexity to the most complex system in the world,” she said. “I do not understand why we would not want to have an earnings link for all pensioners.” “The cost of restoring the link at 75 is peanuts and it will only affect about five million people. We already have a list of ludicrous rules and unfair exemptions.” “Everyone in the Government has been trying to get something from Gordon Brown on pensions reform but this is all they have to show for it”.
“The Chancellor’s problem is that he’s totally fixated on means-testing and oblivious to getting rid of incentives to work and save.” “He’s obsessed with micro-meddling and gimmicks. Restoring the link between earning and pensions, abolished by Margaret Thatcher in 1980, would have little impact in the short term for most pensioners.”
The gap between growth in prices and earnings is currently only about 1.5 per cent. That would mean an extra increase of only £65 a year per single pensioner. A fudged deal, like the one Mr Brown is said to be offering, goes directly against Lord Turner’s inquirey into pensions policy.
It recommended decent state pensions for all, paid for by the increased contributions and a gradual rise in the retirement age. But the shift in policy would mark a dramatic climb down by Mr Brown, who has backed his complex system of tax credits and top-up payments instead of an automatic right to a fair deal.
Sylvia
Sandie Seward
Governments love 'Means-Testing', Sylvia, any excuse not to give us our dues.
It's not quite so bad as in my Dad's day, though, I remember him telling me that when he was a young boy, and his Dad lost his job, (around 1920 or so), an official turned up at their house and made an inventory of all the furniture they had. Because they owned a piano, they were forced to sell it, otherwise they wouldn't have been given any help. Also in those days, if you had carpets, or any other items they deemed as 'luxories', you had to sell them. Bare linoleum was the order of the day, also no decent table linen, only 'oilcloth' on the kitchen table.
We have moved on slightly from those days, thank God, but, I'm sure if this goverment thought for one minuet that it could get away with it, they would say to Benefit Claiments, 'You've got a car, sell it, you've got a widescreen television and video, what? you mean to say you have a DVD player as well? Sell them all, live on the proceeds, only then come back to us when you are virtually destitute. We may be able to 'help' you, then.'
Sylvia
Forgive me if I am wrong, but didn't Maggie Thatcher tell people to sell their owner occupier homes if they were on the breadline, when she was Prime Minister?
Sylvia
Sandie Seward
She probably did, Sylvia, although I don't remember her doing so. However, it sounds about right, doesn't it.
Ken R
el Tonioni would have you sell your own gradmother if he thought it would relieve the state of the burden of looking after you and paying you a decent pension! And not far behind would be Gordy introducing a Granny Sellers Tax into the bargain
Instead of giving 8.9 billion of OUR money to Africa to teach their kids to read and write, why doesn't he give to OUR pensioners so they can live in some kind of solvent dignity ?
After all, we'll probably end up educating the African kids here anyway, after they all turn up as asylum seekers in a couple of years !
Sylvia
Here, here, Ken great reply. You're not wrong, they probably will all end up here anyway. What scares the hell out of me, is when this tiny island that we call Great Britain is full to capacity and ready to capsize, they'll be in the majority and then start to chuck us Brits overboard, in order to make a bit more space for their own kin folk. If you get my drift! 'No pun intended'.
My Pension is going up by almost £5 from this April. Not a bad increase this time around, but the Christmas Bonus still remains at a paltry Tenner!
