The problem with raising the pension age is that employers don't want to hire older people. My dad lost his job around 60, and then found it hard to find a decent job after that. So basically went into semi-retirement. Also, people are still aging and getting more mental and physical hardship around 65.
Exactly, raising retirement age will not solve anything lol, sometimes I do wonder whether these people in government under tories and labour think properly. Employers will not find people over 60 attractive in terms of employment (and I'm not referring to looks) because it will be extremely difficult for the elderly to keep up in a very very fast paced world like the UK where almost everything is going to be influenced and enhanced by A.I.
@@HShango Even those old-geezers who are up to the latest second in AI tec are not suitable for re-entry or persistence in the labour market. Current trends indicate a decreasing need for human beings in this area. Getting a job will become a privilege rather than a necessity. It would be more worthwhile maximising the deployment of younger people.
@@coolbanana165 The ageism issue is very worrying to me. I'm not a million miles away from that age range. What will I do if I can't get work? I'm lucky enough to be earning a lot, but that has only happened very recently so I haven't built up any kind of wealth yet. I am investing and living frugally (no holiday since 2018, etc) but it might not be enough!
I lost my job of 40+yrs as an installation & maintenance electrician on the grounds of capability. I have arthritis in my toes, ankles, knees, hands and fingers of both hands, lumbar spondylitis and unstable ankles. I have poor mobility and tend to drop bottles, mugs of tea and have dropped pans of boiled veg. I’d say I’m among those that worked in a labour intense environment which has impacted my health. I’m aware that in certain parts of the country life expectancy has actually dropped. The idea that politicians have increased the state retirement age maybe okay for those that work in less labour intense working environments. But for those in manual jobs I can testify any increase in the state pension age is dreadful. I can’t sit for more than 10-20 minutes due to stiffening and locking of my joints. The same applies when standing as pain is intense and I tend to fall.
There are possibly millions in a situation similar to yours. It is ridiculous that people who have not yet worked (or will never work) an entire working lifetime, let alone a lifetime in a work environment which causes severe wear and tear on workers, or suffer work related physical and mental fatigue and breakdown as well as medical conditions associated with aging are making decisions about issues they have no life experience of.
A lot of Boomers have complained about those that have never worked, and when they do I point this out: When I was a child my father worked for the police and he once quipped how he's spoken to people who had never worked, who's parents had never worked and even who's *grandparents* had never worked. All that time the Boomers did pretty much nothing and yet only now do they complain. And if course it's the later generations who should pay.
@@loc4725 The Boomers spent decades working to support the generation that came before them. That's unfortunately the way that successive _governments_ have run things. Generational unemployment is the fault of the Tories. Thatcher caused it by trashing millions of jobs without any plan to replace them. The reason why the UK is facing a huge pension bill *is not* the fault of the generations that came before, but of successive Thatcherite governments, who did nothing to prepare, despite the fact that this problem has been known on the horizon for decades. Boomers are just as much victims as everyone else. There is nothing that the average person on the street can do to fix the government's bad planning. If you pick on older people, you're just doing what the true perpetrators want; dividing the nation and persecuting the victims.
@@seany8787 Of course. Being the largest voting bloc for quite some time AND being in the position to sell off and spend all that was built up by previous generations seem to have meant that they've become accustomed to the work-reward input-output difference. Or as the Boomer & economics professor economist Richard J Murphy says: "There really is a magic money tree." There's an American videographer on here who during his long career made recordings of people talking about how things are today, the today being spoken of being when the recording was made. And despite being an early Boomer himself he nonetheless completely sees things the way we do. He has a few videos on here where he interviews the Boomer's parents, who were at the time in their 30's and 40's and in one video a set of parents very tellingly mention how their kids (Boomers) don't understand where the money comes from: 'All they see is the father going to work and things getting better over time'. I suspect this mentality, this disconnect between what it actually takes to create value and the reward is something most Boomers have grown up and lived with throughout their working lives, and now the sugar is being taken away they're up in arms.
They are not wrong from an economic standpoint, and you can't just ignore reality. Before much longer the taxes on the working people will have to go up quite a lot, or the amount given to the old population will have to go down quite a bit, unless people start retiring later in life. I suspect the increased taxes will occur, because the electorate will be mostly retired or almost retired in the future.
@@ssssaa2 I would just heavily tax the people with no kids. Having no kids is lack of contributions to future generations and their economies it's time to balance that.
All raising the retirement age to 71 would achieve is a huge increase in sickness benefits. Office wallahs who think this is a sensible idea should be sent out digging trenches, working on a building site or fixing roads etc for 6 months and then report back.
Working on site with contractors, many were physically over the hill in their 50's due to the arduous working conditions in all weathers. Thankfully, I was mostly office based, like the bankers and politicians that talk crap about this.
@@davidlumsden2634 I don’t blame you . Very difficult for them to prove you’re fit for work at that age , more false economy economics. Just like the winter fuel allowance will put even more strain on the NHS as the elderly admitted to hospital ,respiratory illness etc .
I'll share some data for you to look at: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/howhaslifeexpectancychangedovertime/2015-09-09 Since the 1950s, people that reach the age of 65 are expected to live about 6 to 7 years longer. So, if we were to follow the same thinking as when we initially came up with the idea of retirement age, it's probably going to be closer to 72. Count your blessings if they keep it below 70 in your lifetime.
Do pensioners have to be poor ? If you work hard all your life and save to enjoy your retirement. Do you have to be penalised and be seen as a cash cow ?
If you "worked hard all your life" and somehow still end up in retirement with little money shouldn't later generations fill the gap from their incomes?
@@sky37blueYes, because France, Greece & Italy have no problems whatsoever with their pension systems. And they're totally comparable with near identical economies, demographics and social structures.
Yes The U K can afford pensions and winter fuel payments if we stop giving our money to all and sundry who have never and will never contribute to our economy,and that would just be a start.
@@edwardwashington-zf4ws Labour every day of the week. Id rather see my tax not go towards people who already have £400 million in the bank like Sunak. Quite why people like the Sunaks and Johnsons who have that amount of money want to run the country is staggering, it must be just some kind of hobby for them
@jontalbot1 take the council tax bins we do all the recycling for them,it' use to be once a week collection, now its two weeks,also being rumored is the 25% single allowance being removed.Historical amount spent on NHS,waiting list highest ever,just to name a few
The state and public services have been under funded for 14 years due to lack of investment in the economy and the population. Short term politics of both Parties is now coming home to roost but they want to blame us .
@@notoco1199well, in a manner of speaking, it could be said that the government (this one as well as the last lot, don't forget their shenanigans) are indeed "braking" the promise, ie slowing things down......as for what I presume you meant to say ie. "breaking " the promise......no I don't think so. I collect my pension next September and we will not require the winter fuel allowance, as I have a small NHS pension that will, along with my wife's pension, allow us to cover our conceivable expenses. 40 + years working in the NHS ( but only 15 of those years pensionable), more agency than employed staff, allowed us, by going without quite a lot in terms of holidays, reliable cars (that's ok though, I can fix quite a lot of car problems on older cars) and spending about 7 years bouncing off the end of a very large overdraft to pay bills FIRST means we have very little debt. I truly fear for my younger colleagues though as most of them rent.....
It doesn't come at any expense to the government. Every 1 pound spent on state pensions has a multiplier effect of 3. The money circulates in britain earning taxes and vat every time money is exchanged by pensioners.
Currency is a completely abstract concept predicated on whether useful functional wealth is created. Most human activities are meaningless if you want to brutally analyse what we need for basic needs
@@HaydenCyclist Sorry but that's nonsense. It comes from the government in the first place. So it's just tax paid on tax. There is no wealth creation involved because on average, pensioners aren't using their money to innovate new products, patent new inventions, or to start businesses generally. If it were true then it would apply to all past amounts paid out to state pensioners and we wouldn't be in the mess we are in. It's good for velocity of money, but only on a very low level. e.g. a state pensioner might take the bus into town to have a cup of tea and to buy some new shoes with the £100 they have remaining after their bills are paid.
@wattbenj i never said pensions were an investment, i said it doesn't cost the government a penny. You have national insurance paid by workers over decades, then you have the multiplier effect of all benefits which is 3. The poorer someone is the greater the multiplier effect. If you're on state pension you immediately spend what you receive to stay alive. The money curculates in this economy. For every pound tax break on corporations you get no mutliplier effect. They usually cash out and send their money abroad, or hide it in trusts or through accounting. If you give the money to the poorest you get the biggest bang for the government buck. But rishi and starmer feed the billionaires and cut money for the poor. Inevitably the economy contracts.
British pensions are some of the lowest in Europe. Pensions are not a benefit, they are an entitlement. Young people get older. If you have paid your dues, you should get a fair pension, not be dependent on handouts. The country can choose to protect the young, the old, the vulnerable, they choose not to.
British NI % is also one of the lowest in Europe. People love to point out the payment and forget the other part. Pensions in France and Germany are higher because the taxes are higher. Here the pension is a subsistence pension and people are supposed to supplement with their own savings. Its really shouldnt be that hard to understand.
Stop enticing the water boaters over, stop paying them benefits, stop paying billions to other countries, look after those in this country. 50%, i call that BS. They have worked hard to pay off their home off and gone without.
You are being told that's the problem by dishonest parasitic public school stockbroker types like Farage whose career aims are to steal your money, tie you to a rental economic model and rip the heart out of our economy. Pick your enemy properly please.
Think how rich we can all be when we don't have to pay for expensive polititans, no tax, no fuel tax, road tax we could all save more than enough money not to need a state pension and retire at 55
I am 81 years old and now live alone. Goodness knows why I looked forward to retirement! I just cannot afford to do so many of the things I was looking forward to doing. I just wish this Government would get its priorities right. Why should the tax payer be expected to finance the ever increasing number of illegal immigrants providing them with accommodation + expenses?
@@williamthompson4389 The problem is the political class, not the illegal immigrants. I'm not arguing in favour of illegal immigration but the newspapers and media outlets whipping up hatred towards immigrants are the friends of the political class.
You only get £450 rise pa if you are on the "NEW "State Pension. If you are unfortunately on the "OLD" Basic State Pension, then the increase is just £352 pa. I do wish they would state this when referring to Pensions
£450 rise less £300 heating allowance lost , leaves £150 but inflation is 2.2% so you need £240 to meet that. I'd need another £700 on top if they take away the 25% council tax single person's allowance. A single person doesn't use the same water as a couple nor need as much recycling done and less road usage too., still paying 75% as much.
If the state said to you when you start work you will have to provide your own pension. If in return they reduced your tax and NI contributions that would be fine. But they don’t do that !
The state said if you pay this rate of tax then you will get basically a subsistence pension.. Above that you need to save for your own retirement and there tax relief schemes on private pensions and ISAs to help people do that. The reason why pensions are higher in other European countries is because they paid a lot more tax in to the system while working. Pensioners love to forget that.
Yes they do it’s just you weren’t paying attention. You could have had a Self Invested Personal Pension. You took no interest or responsibility and now blame others
Yet another one who has absolutely NO idea what it costs to provide and equip police, fire service, ambulance service, infrastructure, defence,social services and find enough daft buggas to work these things for what was until very recently, a piss poor remuneration.....I know, cos I worked in public service almost all my working life and take it from, the wages were NOTHING to write home about.
Money from your salary paid into your pension is actually removed before it's tax. Therefore you pay less NI and PAYE if you pay into a pension, as there's less salary available to tax.
A friend worked in the prison service,rising to governor .He took his prison service pension, and when he started getting his state pension ,found £400 per month being "stolen" from his prison service pension.
If you are young, why would you stay in the UK. The system is broken and we don't have the calibre of politicans to fix it because that would take being honest with the public. We have 20yr (3 elections because this labour government will only nake things worse)
Because of a love of England and her countryside, her churches and her culture. life is going to need to get a lot harder to dissuade new comers from arriving. stop all benefits, and let the suffering brit go toe to toe with the new arrivals. there will be great suffering in the nation in the next 30 years.
That’s because it’s a great country to live in. What ‘system’ is ‘broken’? If you think politicians are so terrible why don’t you become one yourself? You obviously have all the answers
The care sector for example is desperate for staff. It’s not too hard to get a job in that sector. All you would have to do is say to get access to the state pension you need to do 5 years national service in care, looking after those 10+ years older than you (so you could do it from 65 to 70 years old). Then when you need care yourself in your 70s or 80s you’ll get it from someone in their 60s. This would actually mean that care is potentially more compassionate as you will be almost peers and see yourself in the near future as the cared for person. The government could also encourage re-skilling in jobs that are in demand with tax incentives for taking on older workers.
Why haven’t the government been challenged on changing the retirement age, i’ve paid into the system since the age of 16 to be told my retirement age would be 65 now 67 ! How is that legal ? 😡😡
Because people are living longer than ever before and the birth rate is well below population replacement rate and still decreasing meaning the old age dependancy ratio is increasing.
I started paying into my pension using SERPS (state earnings related pension scheme ). The more you paid in the more you got out. However with more and more people paying nothing in they stopped it.
I've never once heard politicians complaining about us 'Boomers generation' while we worked our butts off for 50 years. Now we are due our pensions they want to wipe their hands of us. I've been fortunate to have had good health despite working long hours all of my life but suffered burn out while working in the building industry when my employer increased my working week to 48 hours from 40. This forced me to retire 2 years early at 64 and 'cash in' a private pension just to get me over the line and receive my state pension. Anyone who suggests increasing the retirement age has never done a heavy physical job, changing career at 60 something isn't an option for most. I had planned to work to 66 but retiring two years early has really messed things up financially 😒
Billions. And don't forget Gordon Brown's pillaging of the state pension funds back in 2008, which were never repaid. He the created the myth used by Tories and Labour that there was a pension black hole.
I'm 49 years old, recently laid off, and in a new phase of my life. What are my best options for steady income given that I have 425K saved for retirement, 10K in an HSA, and a property that might bring in an additional 200K?
Is it time for a career shift or should I consolidate my investments into a single account? If I go for the latter, how do I do it right, and what could be the drawbacks? Plus, with a $200K property sale on the horizon, should I combine my investments or diversify them across different markets?
These are key questions for a financial planner. I connected with mine at a summit, and with her help, my wife and I reallocated our 1.7M portfolio between a traditional IRA and brokerage account. She’s been managing the investment with our approval and has helped us recover twice our losses. Currently hodl’ing steady and cautiously navigating the market
Do you know how the work-place pensions are advertised? When it says 'and your boss pays in too!' I always envision a future government saying 'and that part will be ours.' The pension/tax raids of the future will be horrific. They would have never crafted pensions to involve 'free money' from your boss, if they didn't intend for a lot of it to go to the Treasury one day.
The only reason there is mass migration is because the people migrating here are from areas that are much worse.... Otherwise, most people born here are increasingly looking to emigrate
@@wattbenj Private pensions are owned by the beneficiary, not the government; so they can't take it (without ending over 2,000 years worth of the law). So ... stop fear mongering.
@@jontalbot1it is still one of the lowest among the developed countries. It very much depends on what a country's priorities are and the UK devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to state pensions than most other advanced economies
@@miraladak2314We spend about 13% of total government spending on state pensions, more or less bang on the EU average. Highest spenders are Greece and Italy ( both over 16%). Lowest are in Eastern Europe. Check your facts first.
I am gen-Z'd. I currently put away 20% of my income in to my personal pension and S&S ISA. There's no way the state pension will be sustainable when I am older.
Brilliant idea but you're costing your youth for your aging self when that money has been inflated away. Would it be better to put that towards the deposit for your house, or against paying off the mortgage? almost definitely.
@@peteraston4753 no tax is paid on payments into private pensions - why wouldnt there be tax to pay on the way out? You get the benefit of compounding growth on your pension which again no tax was paid on, and you get to take 25% out as cash tax free. Its a terrific deal.
And the poor, and children, oh, and of course men and women. The only people left will be the WEF elites who will be the only people to be allowed to have families and children. Imagine a world full of the offspring of Starmer & Co?
Listen up: the state pension has doubled at twice the rate of average earnings since 2000. This year it is increasing by 8.5%; next year 4%. How is Starmer ‘going for the elderly? Why not check out the facts instead repeating crap you read in newspapers owned by people so patriotic they don’t pay taxes here
@@jeremiahpoole6526it is very obvious that he was the chosen one and plucked from the guilds of London by WEF. And the establishment from whence he came.
We have a moral obligation to pay pensions to those who have worked their whole lives for them. Pensions are not the government's money to cut, they belong to the pensioners themselves. We are long overdue major tax reform to include wealth taxes, new top rates of income tax, and windfall taxes on natural monopolies. Rich people complain about public finances but they're in some cases in possession of more money than it's physically possible to spend in a lifetime. I'm not in favour of taxes so high as to be punitive. But the super rich have gained spectacularly from capitalism for the last five decades. Ordinary people have in many ways become worse off.
A thought has just occurred to me that the establishment keeps whining about insufficient young people to support the ageing population. I believe this is a total myth as with modern industrial processes and automation less and less people are needed to support society. On one hand the establishment is talking about the basic income without the need to work which totally contradicts the not enough future labour mantra. Farming is a classic example were fewer and fewer people are producing more and more of our food. That is if we don’t build over all farmland
The problem is less working people means less tax revenue from wages. This figure isn't made up in business taxes when a robot/machine replaces a human workers. Businesses want automation as in the long run it's cheaper for the business than employing humans.
I worked all my days, and I just made it by the skin of my teeth as regards health was concerned. I was just getting away with being 65 but they added on another eight months. It is all well and good saying that we are all living longer lives, but the repetitive factory work I did was made harder by doing away with our sick pay and loosing lots of our holiday benefits and also making our factory pension practically useless to us. The changes to our workplace jobs and break reduction are all stress factors that build up throughout our working lives. It’s not just common old joes like me the better off pensioners should not be made to bear the brunt of this incompetent government currently being run by Slabface Starmer. Better off pensioners have deserved their rights to more secure pensions after a long working lifetime. Lots of men and women don’t have good health in their sixties and that should be taken into consideration. Right now it is disgraceful what the government is doing to our ladies in not giving them the rights and money 💰 that they have earned it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s time to rid the NHS of all of the corrupt ted tape and back door privatisation it’s time for Reform Party to step up and change the system that is not working for us.
So let me get this straight. As a young person living in Britain, I; - will never own a home - will be forever stuck paying needlessly high rent - will be earning around 10k less than most developed countries forever - will be stuck with high cost of living - will be raising my kids to become wage slaves, who also will never own a home and will live in a glorified, country-sized retirement home - likely won't be able to get NHS appointments at a reasonable timescale - won't be able to retire until I'm in my 70s - won't get the support I need when I do retire - will probably die from an avoidable health condition caused by NHS neglect - if I dont die from NHS neglect, I'll probably freeze to death as an old man So why should I stay here? From what I can tell, being British is financially detrimental and is quite literally terrible for your well-being and health. I think I'm done with this place.
You forgot to mention that the state pension will probably be means tested so your lifetime of work & saving will be stolen at retirement to pay the spend happy & workshy.
@@jontalbot1 - Sorry, but that was the social contract. Pay into the NI pot and at the end of your working life, you will receive a State Pension, just like every other civilized nation in Europe. No point getting salty about it now, pensioners have been made into scapegoats by government, and the Gen Z brigade are falling for the propaganda.
In fact the other benefits, other than pensioner "benefits" are a greater cost to the UK govt. In the 2023-2024 financial year, the UK government is expected to spend approximately £265.5 billion on benefits and pensions. Out of this, around £125 billion is allocated specifically for state pensions. Why pick on the pensioners? Lots of other people get other benefits totalling £140 billion.Just over one billion is peanuts in the scale of govt expenditure. Some lunatic somewhere started all this off and it keeps on rambling on.There is no strategy on all of this because the govt is useless.
@@TankEnMate Just not true. The level of increase for the coming year will be the same average level of per cent increase for wages and salaries. And the existing pension is a third of the average level of pay considerably lower.
@@erongi233 The triple lock means the pension will always out perform, because at a minimum it matches wage growth, any time it doesn't match wage growth it is guaranteed to be higher. Ipso facto under the triple lock pensions will outperform wages.
@@TankEnMate In the long run, that is true. However, the triple lock is the only way to increase the destitute pension level, compared with most in the OECD. That is a fair comparison.Pensioners are desperate to retain the triple lock as the only way to increase the dismal pension. Nearly all benefits and the amount spent per state student and the amount spent per NHS patient are all low compared with Europe.It is all on the cheap and the poor ,or none,productivity increases are the cause of the crisis.
UK can afford the old age state pension but it CANT AFFORD GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PENSIONS. Virtually no one in the private sector gets 28% employer pension contributions but this is what the government has burdened us with for government pensions.
Governments of the future will be afraid to upset pensioners because it will be such a large group of voters 35%. If anything they’ll give them more money not less.
I'm 55 almost 56, under current system I'm due to retire at 67. I have early stage degenerative arthritis, I need surgery on my knee. My back is dodgy too. I work full time as a support worker in social care. It's often a heavy and physical job as well as mentally challenging. I also look after my own adult children who both have autism. Most days I am completely exhausted and in constant pain. Not that long ago I would have been looking forward to retiring in just over 4 years. As it stands I still have 11 years, I'm not sure my body will let me carry on that long, let alone 4 years on top of that! I'm not alone in my situation, there are probably millions like me who are terrified of being unable to work and having to negotiate the downright cruel and humiliating benefits system when really we should be looking forward to being able to retire like our parents, now in 70s and 80s, did at an age where we could still actually live a reasonable life.
UK government should 1) Impose a wealth tax on individuals with assets of £1 million or more 2) Impose a financial transaction tax of a fraction of a percent to force the UK's massive financial sector to contribute to the common good UK pensioners should 1) Prepare to move out of London 2) Prepare to share houses with other pensioners
@@greendragonspirit1646 and our elected overlords sold all of the UKs industry / public services for a private service / banking economy that only propagates the rich getting richer
The state pension is rising by £460 per year however those on the basic pension are only getting £350 per year the difference between the state pension and the basic pension is not far off £3000 per year absolutely disgraceful
Means testing the state pension will de-facto raise the retirement age. All pension planning assumes a full state pension, and that includes all public sector and company pensions. In my case any means testing will force me to work until at least 71 because it will cut away at both my and my wife's state pensions, as I am the only one who has a private pension.
The public sector has seen zero productivity growth since 1997, whilst the private sector has improved by 27%. If Govt wants to fill that gap "black hole", then they should link public sector department & council budgets, public sector payrises & pension contributions to productivity improvements.
Public sector productivity and private sector productivity are two totally different things. 😂 The public sector has no profit motive and their output isn't market priced. The military, courts and police aren't even measured as they use output equals input. Add in the tax exemptions on assets and lower tax liabilities on profits for the private sector and the productivity of the private sector plummets. That isn't even taking into account what the public sector would charge the private sector according to market rates for services, or subsidies. This Tory line you are spouting is for uneducated plebs.
@@cfalvl2380 - That's the point, you introduce a profit motive or equivalent proxy, and an internal market. Those courts that throughput more cases get more funds, and the people working there get performance related pay. The ones who don't get their budgets cut, salaries cut, and pension contributions frozen. If you don't do this you get what happened with Network Rail, when it took over from Railtrack. With no profit motive, you get Empire building. It spends 4x as much in real terms, has double the staffing, its head gets £750k, and it's still responsible for 70-80% of the delays.
No we haven't. Pensions are paid from general taxation, what we paid in taxes over the years went to pay for the pensions of our parents and grandparents. Now we need youngsters to work to pay our pensions, but unfortunately there are less and less of them because the birth rate is falling. That is happening because our stupid generation allowed housing and rent prices to rocket.
We're supposed to be one of the world's largest economies. Of course we can afford pensions and winter fuel allowances. There's plenty of money in the country, it's just in the wrong hands. Tax the rich! We should be LOWERING the pension age, not raising it.
According to the ONS the healthy life expectancy (the age at which you get health related issues) in the UK is 63.5 years for men, and slightly more for women.
Seriously mess with state pension - if you think the WFA backlash was bad then think again. If you have fulfilled your end of the criteria then you should receive your entitlement. Do to pensions what has been done to the WFA all hell will break out.
There has been an ongoing campaign in our media for many years seeking to imply that pensioners are a tax burden on younger generations. False in every sense because all governments have purposefully devalued our currency for decades to lower government debt payments and inflate the economy. That means that the real value of your contributions are eroded. Furthermore pensioners experienced high inflation, high interest and housing inflation over the decades. So a double and triple whammy. Labour seeks to expand the availability of housing by forcing pensioners into flats and care homes gaining more money by forcing them to sell their houses to pay for care and robbing their families by raising inheritance tax. The only thing that Labour has ever done for ordinary indigenous people is raise their taxes and favour every minority and foreign groups.
@@Backwardlooking agree on every point with the exception of housing inflation affecting pensioners. Id say thats the last thing they were affected by and one of the advantages to getting old in this country is buying your 3 bed semi house for £10,000 and it being worth £750,000 some years later. Quite a return from the inital outlay.
@@seany8787 In 1972 the economy went into a depression. The jobs for young people were scarce even for graduates. Governments of both Heath and Wilson attempted to control the economy through interest rates primarily linked to mortgage rates for political reasons and elections. The loosening of money controls then precipitated a huge inflation in housing prices. First time buyers specifically the now maligned‘Baby Boomers’ were mostly priced out of the market. I’ve lived through all of these events and both studied and taught economics at a higher level.
@@Backwardlooking In 2000 I was 13 and my family (mum, dad, me and brother) moved house into a semi rural, 4 bed semi detached. It cost, I think, £72,000 Its now, some 20 ish years later worth £420k plus. Its also had 2 people flew the nest, so its a big house for 2 aging parents. I was too young to work in 2000 but I can assure you that had I been, my wages wouldnt have kept up with that % rise. The housing market when I bought my house (my first) was painful. Its even worse now. We will soon outgrow our first home, which bought at 151k is probably worth around 75k more in 6 -7 years. Theres nothing much bigger than my house for the price people want for them. Im probably in a sweet (sour?) spot of looking for a 300-400k house but it seems everyone else is as well. There was a distinct feeling for my generation that those on the ladder have pulled it up. Young people turn to renting because theres no way to save for a deposit big enough for the inflated house prices, and so that dead money goes towards paying off landlords mortgages and not their own Boomers might have had it hard. I think our generation and those younger now than millennial me have it worse. Its supposed to get better for the generation after you.
Can the UK afford the state pension and winter fuel allowance you ask. Yes there's plenty of money to go around , the trouble is there's a small minority of extremely wealthy people with all the money. Why are ordinary people always the ones expected to take a hit when those who have most are not? Why can we always find money for wars?
Could someons fact check this . . . . . In the fortys the government entered into a Contract with workers whereby if the workers paid National insurance the government Promised them a pension???? Where could I find details about this, anyone know?
A subsistence level pension as reflected in the tax rate paid. Other countries pay higher pensions because they charge higher taxes. It really isnt that hard to understand. People in the UK are supposed to use the money not charged in tax to save and supplement their own retirement - thats how the UK system is set up.
I don’t know how you can say the government has ruled out tax rises… The freezing of the thresholds means we are getting tax rises every year automatically!!!! It’s crippling
@@pipins3616 I'm just reporting what the legalisation says about the state pension. All benefits come from the same organisation, the DWP. As does the state pension. I have no axe to grind here. I'm 62.
We need to encourage the younger generation to enter the workforce straight after leaving school. Apprenticeships are the way forward and people that take this route as I did at the age of sixteen will not be saddled with thousands of pounds worth of debt by not going to university. This will also have the added benefit of reducing the tax burden on the tax payer
At age 71, I could not go back to working 10 hours a day, 4 on 4 off., in a cold food factory. At age 63, I could retire early and did so. The potential alternative could be 8 years on long term sick leave
The solution is easy - increase National Insurance. This is not a new dynamics as when many of us started work (in my case the 1970's) am sure average age expectancy was significantly lower still. So these same issues existed to some degree. But the NIC payments have been adjusted over the years to compensate. Plus they have also shifted the age you can claim it upwards and the number of full years needed to claim a full pension. All of which I've just accepted and carried on because whilst obviously disappointing, it didn't break the whole concept of working to preserve your future. What long term damage will it do to the trust of our nation if this contact with the UK working population is effectively plundered from beneath us as you reach the point where that contract is realised. It will also mean that for those that are young, keeping your hard earned assets so visible in banks and company pensions etc will be regarded as naive in the extreme. Best live for the moment and rack up credit as the future is too uncertain. So please Labour, be more sensible.
We spend much less on pensions as a share of GDP than other countries who are not proposing to increase the pension age. Furthermore pension age increases are just about the most anti poor policy imaginable as the rich can afford to retire anyway and the poor die earlier.
If the taxpayers can afford the upkeep of an seemingly infinite Illegal Migrants who have not payed into the system then that money can be used on those who have payed in all their working lives instead
With the continued UK push for escalation against Russia, I can easily envisage the "Pension Problem" soon being one of the least of the UK's most pressing problems.
I'd be curious to hear what you think about the idea that the UK should stop paying interest to its own sovereign bank. As far as I understand this is almost double the amount of this black hole and we are one of the few countries that does this.
I think there are some broader economic aspects to consider. Pensioners will spend all their money, and so this will cycle directly back into the economy. Working people will be saving for pensions and paying for large assets such as their home and car. Perhaps a bit over half their income cycles directly back into the economy as a result. There's also the fact that because of our high direct and indirect taxes, it only takes a couple of cycles of pensioners money through businesses and individuals before nearly 80 percent or so is back in government coffers. All this means is that paying pensions is a remarkably effective way of boosting and stabilising the wider economy and local basic services that rely on pensioner spending such as local shops cafes buses and taxis - and these services employ a lot of people. Put the other way, cutting pensions would be a pretty good way to trigger a long lasting recession that would cause a lot of marginal local businesses to go to the wall.
Make the pensionable age 73. That means people will be so knackered by the time that they get their pension they will curl their toes up by 75. So a win win.
UK gives foreign AID, gives billions to Ukraine, gives billions to illegal migrants, gives foreign born people council house. Then you get people justifying taken money from pensioners. I am an immigrant and i am grateful to UK. I believe I must contribute by paying my own way.
The topic is winter fuel allowance but it covered the govt tax income and how to reduce pension spending? I think the super rich will not mind higher luxury goods/properties taxes . The increase of retirement age for pension can work but shows no empathy on old citizens who have worked for more than 35 years in the society even they might pay income taxes for less than 50% of their career periods. I would suggest some part-time work policy for those between 64-70 so that they can get % of full pensions while they can get income from work. For some work that requires experience and skill, it keep the productivity. For such policy, the govt should have policy on improving the health of citizen such as tax benefits/even bonus of less alcoholic drinks. The housing supply and policy should be improved so that there will be 3-4 tiers supply based on the applicant unit annual income- the public housing , the middle levels (maybe 2 levels) housing ( interchange-saleable between this income class only) and the private sector . This will improve to reduce the living expenses of citizens, while also keep the building industry moving. This will also improve the expendable income % with general wages annual increase. The next is to study the public transport and to improve reducing expense of each citizens on it, this will also reduce the pollution/CO2 level. The government is working on sustainable energy sources and should continue it, it also provides job opportunities for such growing industries.
I can’t work at the age 71 , I have heath problems as it is . And I really struggling now . This will force people to give up and be homeless . You do slow down when you’re older . I never thought I would . I just can’t do it .
I agree with the axing of the WF-A but I disagree with the income threshold at which the government has limited WF. WF should not be limited to P-C/other means tested benefits, the income threshold should rise to 15k/16k.
Which state pension will rise by £450? I would think that it would be the NEW state pension, which I cannot receive due to being born before the quaifying year. I understand that the Tripple Lock works differently on my pension as the "opted out" part receives a lower uplift than the rest. Is that correct? I will find out when I receive notification I suppose.
The pension age should be raised from 65 to 120 and then the Government will not have to pay out anything. Also get rid of the NHS and transfer the money to private hospitals for rich people like politicians.
Easily affordable. Just stop Overseas Aid, aid for countries to go green, payments to illegal immigrants, subsidies to private industries. By my reckoning that amounts to 29,386,000,000. Do the home work look it up. We are truly being taken for fools.
Actually the next pension increase of 4%, covering wage rise from May 23 to July 24, will apply in April 25, after the winter. Moreover the positive difference between wage increase and inflation, for the period above mentioned, will be wiped out by additional inflation from July 24. Simple math that is also applicable to the increase of April 24. There is also the extra inflation from April 24 to October 24, when we start heating our houses. This is to say that, this year, many pensioners are left with no financial cushion, defenseless, without the £200-300 allowance, to face a 10% increase in Gas & Electricity cost. Well done Starmer !!!
If we can afford to finance wars against other countries that have absolute nothing to do with the UK or have any UK interest at stake, then we can afford a pension. However it appears we can not afford both , so those that do support war with Ukraine, you better decide which option you want. The or or your pension and heating
The problem with raising the pension age is that employers don't want to hire older people.
My dad lost his job around 60, and then found it hard to find a decent job after that. So basically went into semi-retirement.
Also, people are still aging and getting more mental and physical hardship around 65.
Exactly, raising retirement age will not solve anything lol, sometimes I do wonder whether these people in government under tories and labour think properly. Employers will not find people over 60 attractive in terms of employment (and I'm not referring to looks) because it will be extremely difficult for the elderly to keep up in a very very fast paced world like the UK where almost everything is going to be influenced and enhanced by A.I.
@@HShango Even those old-geezers who are up to the latest second in AI tec are not suitable for re-entry or persistence in the labour market. Current trends indicate a decreasing need for human beings in this area. Getting a job will become a privilege rather than a necessity. It would be more worthwhile maximising the deployment of younger people.
Our birth rate is down 21% in 11 years.
Employers will have to change.
@@coolbanana165 The ageism issue is very worrying to me. I'm not a million miles away from that age range. What will I do if I can't get work?
I'm lucky enough to be earning a lot, but that has only happened very recently so I haven't built up any kind of wealth yet. I am investing and living frugally (no holiday since 2018, etc) but it might not be enough!
@@HShango You don't know what fast paced is. Go see how it is in general States.
If these stupid politicians stopped giving our ( tax payers money) we wouldn't be in the shit state were in at the moment.
If we did not have the cons and brexshit there would be no problem .
Ps if did not have stupid voters.
I lost my job of 40+yrs as an installation & maintenance electrician on the grounds of capability. I have arthritis in my toes, ankles, knees, hands and fingers of both hands, lumbar spondylitis and unstable ankles. I have poor mobility and tend to drop bottles, mugs of tea and have dropped pans of boiled veg. I’d say I’m among those that worked in a labour intense environment which has impacted my health. I’m aware that in certain parts of the country life expectancy has actually dropped.
The idea that politicians have increased the state retirement age maybe okay for those that work in less labour intense working environments. But for those in manual jobs I can testify any increase in the state pension age is dreadful. I can’t sit for more than 10-20 minutes due to stiffening and locking of my joints. The same applies when standing as pain is intense and I tend to fall.
Sorry, but no one cares.....😕
Sounds like you have been badly let down by nhs
You are so correct, let the political class try some manual work instead of pontificating !
They may have to limit increases for manual workers and increase clerical workers to 70.
There are possibly millions in a situation similar to yours.
It is ridiculous that people who have not yet worked (or will never work) an entire working lifetime, let alone a lifetime in a work environment which causes severe wear and tear on workers, or suffer work related physical and mental fatigue and breakdown as well as medical conditions associated with aging are making decisions about issues they have no life experience of.
We can afford to give billions away to all and sundry but to those who have worked paying endless taxes.
You clearly have no idea how much pensioners cost the government.
A lot of Boomers have complained about those that have never worked, and when they do I point this out:
When I was a child my father worked for the police and he once quipped how he's spoken to people who had never worked, who's parents had never worked and even who's *grandparents* had never worked.
All that time the Boomers did pretty much nothing and yet only now do they complain. And if course it's the later generations who should pay.
@@loc4725 boomers have no concept of you reap what you sow.
@@loc4725 The Boomers spent decades working to support the generation that came before them. That's unfortunately the way that successive _governments_ have run things.
Generational unemployment is the fault of the Tories. Thatcher caused it by trashing millions of jobs without any plan to replace them.
The reason why the UK is facing a huge pension bill *is not* the fault of the generations that came before, but of successive Thatcherite governments, who did nothing to prepare, despite the fact that this problem has been known on the horizon for decades.
Boomers are just as much victims as everyone else. There is nothing that the average person on the street can do to fix the government's bad planning. If you pick on older people, you're just doing what the true perpetrators want; dividing the nation and persecuting the victims.
@@seany8787 Of course. Being the largest voting bloc for quite some time AND being in the position to sell off and spend all that was built up by previous generations seem to have meant that they've become accustomed to the work-reward input-output difference. Or as the Boomer & economics professor economist Richard J Murphy says: "There really is a magic money tree."
There's an American videographer on here who during his long career made recordings of people talking about how things are today, the today being spoken of being when the recording was made. And despite being an early Boomer himself he nonetheless completely sees things the way we do. He has a few videos on here where he interviews the Boomer's parents, who were at the time in their 30's and 40's and in one video a set of parents very tellingly mention how their kids (Boomers) don't understand where the money comes from: 'All they see is the father going to work and things getting better over time'.
I suspect this mentality, this disconnect between what it actually takes to create value and the reward is something most Boomers have grown up and lived with throughout their working lives, and now the sugar is being taken away they're up in arms.
Politicians call the retired "Useless Eaters".
Politicians despise the retired and disabled".
I remember someone thinking that, when I was a boy. I wonder what became of him.
They are not wrong from an economic standpoint, and you can't just ignore reality. Before much longer the taxes on the working people will have to go up quite a lot, or the amount given to the old population will have to go down quite a bit, unless people start retiring later in life.
I suspect the increased taxes will occur, because the electorate will be mostly retired or almost retired in the future.
Which politicians? Where is your evidence? Or maybe it’s just some BS you made up
How call the 120k per year retirement for ex PM than through they lifetime?
@@ssssaa2 I would just heavily tax the people with no kids. Having no kids is lack of contributions to future generations and their economies it's time to balance that.
All raising the retirement age to 71 would achieve is a huge increase in sickness benefits. Office wallahs who think this is a sensible idea should be sent out digging trenches, working on a building site or fixing roads etc for 6 months and then report back.
Working on site with contractors, many were physically over the hill in their 50's due to the arduous working conditions in all weathers. Thankfully, I was mostly office based, like the bankers and politicians that talk crap about this.
If they made me work till 71 I'd claim sickness benefit for the last 2 years or so and get all the free dentist, prescriptions, housing benefit ect
@@davidlumsden2634 I don’t blame you . Very difficult for them to prove you’re fit for work at that age , more false economy economics. Just like the winter fuel allowance will put even more strain on the NHS as the elderly admitted to hospital ,respiratory illness etc .
@@davidlumsden2634 if you even live that long you mean ..
Too Busy Throwing Money Away Overseas And No End Of Regular Immigrants
The French kicked off changing the state retirement age to 64 ! The English however take it up the arse to 67 😡😡
I'll share some data for you to look at:
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/howhaslifeexpectancychangedovertime/2015-09-09
Since the 1950s, people that reach the age of 65 are expected to live about 6 to 7 years longer. So, if we were to follow the same thinking as when we initially came up with the idea of retirement age, it's probably going to be closer to 72.
Count your blessings if they keep it below 70 in your lifetime.
not quite yet.
Do pensioners have to be poor ? If you work hard all your life and save to enjoy your retirement. Do you have to be penalised and be seen as a cash cow ?
The state pension has increased at double the rate of average incomes since 2020. What is your point?
@@jontalbot1 The state pension is one of the worst in Europe. Comparing it to wages which have been stagnating for decades is disingenuous.
If you "worked hard all your life" and somehow still end up in retirement with little money shouldn't later generations fill the gap from their incomes?
@@sky37blueYes, because France, Greece & Italy have no problems whatsoever with their pension systems. And they're totally comparable with near identical economies, demographics and social structures.
Under the champagne socialist labour, yes.
Yes The U K can afford pensions and winter fuel payments if we stop giving our money to all and sundry who have never and will never contribute to our economy,and that would just be a start.
@@edwardwashington-zf4ws you are talking about the Tories right?
@@seany8787 Tories or labor,take your plck.
@@edwardwashington-zf4ws Labour every day of the week. Id rather see my tax not go towards people who already have £400 million in the bank like Sunak.
Quite why people like the Sunaks and Johnsons who have that amount of money want to run the country is staggering, it must be just some kind of hobby for them
Scrap the credit and raise the pension..lowest in Europe!
Government keeps getting bigger, thats the problem,and delivers less.
How do you know it ‘delivers less’? Do you think an increase in the state pension is ‘delivering’ less?
@@jontalbot1 What increase? Age ? Yes it is. It's braking the promise for those who already worked number of years.
@jontalbot1 take the council tax bins we do all the recycling for them,it' use to be once a week collection, now its two weeks,also being rumored is the 25% single allowance being removed.Historical amount spent on NHS,waiting list highest ever,just to name a few
The state and public services have been under funded for 14 years due to lack of investment in the economy and the population. Short term politics of both Parties is now coming home to roost but they want to blame us .
@@notoco1199well, in a manner of speaking, it could be said that the government (this one as well as the last lot, don't forget their shenanigans) are indeed "braking" the promise, ie slowing things down......as for what I presume you meant to say ie. "breaking " the promise......no I don't think so. I collect my pension next September and we will not require the winter fuel allowance, as I have a small NHS pension that will, along with my wife's pension, allow us to cover our conceivable expenses. 40 + years working in the NHS ( but only 15 of those years pensionable), more agency than employed staff, allowed us, by going without quite a lot in terms of holidays, reliable cars (that's ok though, I can fix quite a lot of car problems on older cars) and spending about 7 years bouncing off the end of a very large overdraft to pay bills FIRST means we have very little debt. I truly fear for my younger colleagues though as most of them rent.....
Can we afford the state pension? Yes.
Does that come at the expense of other important things? Also yes.
It doesn't come at any expense to the government. Every 1 pound spent on state pensions has a multiplier effect of 3. The money circulates in britain earning taxes and vat every time money is exchanged by pensioners.
Currency is a completely abstract concept predicated on whether useful functional wealth is created.
Most human activities are meaningless if you want to brutally analyse what we need for basic needs
@@HaydenCyclist Sorry but that's nonsense. It comes from the government in the first place. So it's just tax paid on tax. There is no wealth creation involved because on average, pensioners aren't using their money to innovate new products, patent new inventions, or to start businesses generally.
If it were true then it would apply to all past amounts paid out to state pensioners and we wouldn't be in the mess we are in.
It's good for velocity of money, but only on a very low level. e.g. a state pensioner might take the bus into town to have a cup of tea and to buy some new shoes with the £100 they have remaining after their bills are paid.
@wattbenj i never said pensions were an investment, i said it doesn't cost the government a penny.
You have national insurance paid by workers over decades, then you have the multiplier effect of all benefits which is 3.
The poorer someone is the greater the multiplier effect. If you're on state pension you immediately spend what you receive to stay alive. The money curculates in this economy.
For every pound tax break on corporations you get no mutliplier effect. They usually cash out and send their money abroad, or hide it in trusts or through accounting.
If you give the money to the poorest you get the biggest bang for the government buck.
But rishi and starmer feed the billionaires and cut money for the poor. Inevitably the economy contracts.
@wattbenj btw, money can only be created by the bank of England and also banks when they issue loans. There is no other way to create money.
If you work hard all your life and end up with absolutely nothing they have achieved their aims.
British pensions are some of the lowest in Europe. Pensions are not a benefit, they are an entitlement. Young people get older. If you have paid your dues, you should get a fair pension, not be dependent on handouts. The country can choose to protect the young, the old, the vulnerable, they choose not to.
British NI % is also one of the lowest in Europe. People love to point out the payment and forget the other part. Pensions in France and Germany are higher because the taxes are higher. Here the pension is a subsistence pension and people are supposed to supplement with their own savings. Its really shouldnt be that hard to understand.
You cannot expect Scandinavian levels of public services with American levels of taxation.
Critically think about it.
I payed for my pension 50 years working +short army service, I Paid, it is not a benifit, dont let them forget that.Thanks
Stop enticing the water boaters over, stop paying them benefits, stop paying billions to other countries, look after those in this country. 50%, i call that BS. They have worked hard to pay off their home off and gone without.
You are being told that's the problem by dishonest parasitic public school stockbroker types like Farage whose career aims are to steal your money, tie you to a rental economic model and rip the heart out of our economy. Pick your enemy properly please.
Stop MPs gross allowances and freebies at our expense and Tax the Rich.
Think how rich we can all be when we don't have to pay for expensive polititans, no tax, no fuel tax, road tax we could all save more than enough money not to need a state pension and retire at 55
@@firstknight6057 exactly
I am 81 years old and now live alone. Goodness knows why I looked forward to retirement! I just cannot afford to do so many of the things I was looking forward to doing. I just wish this Government would get its priorities right. Why should the tax payer be expected to finance the ever increasing number of illegal immigrants providing them with accommodation + expenses?
I agree with you 1.000 % , they are selling out to dogs and the dogs are winning , uk 🇬🇧 DOOMED
@@williamthompson4389 The problem is the political class, not the illegal immigrants. I'm not arguing in favour of illegal immigration but the newspapers and media outlets whipping up hatred towards immigrants are the friends of the political class.
Retirement is a joke, work till you die is the new motto.
or Those that fall behind will be left behind.
The state pension has increased at double the rate of average wages since 2000.
@@jontalbot1that in itself is meaningless. There are more factors in play
You only get £450 rise pa if you are on the "NEW "State Pension. If you are unfortunately on the "OLD" Basic State Pension, then the increase is just £352 pa. I do wish they would state this when referring to Pensions
And you might have to pay tax if the allowance does not increase above now.
The reason they don't say this is it makes people believe that all pensioners are doing alright when in fact most are on the lower rate
£450 rise less £300 heating allowance lost , leaves £150 but inflation is 2.2% so you need £240 to meet that. I'd need another £700 on top if they take away the 25% council tax single person's allowance. A single person doesn't use the same water as a couple nor need as much recycling done and less road usage too., still paying 75% as much.
Great Point. Most people are on the old state pension.
If the state said to you when you start work you will have to provide your own pension. If in return they reduced your tax and NI contributions that would be fine. But they don’t do that !
The state said if you pay this rate of tax then you will get basically a subsistence pension.. Above that you need to save for your own retirement and there tax relief schemes on private pensions and ISAs to help people do that. The reason why pensions are higher in other European countries is because they paid a lot more tax in to the system while working. Pensioners love to forget that.
Yes they do it’s just you weren’t paying attention. You could have had a Self Invested Personal Pension. You took no interest or responsibility and now blame others
Realised decades ago there'd be no state pension, or it's repeated a lot. The value of the pound gets diluted so it's unlikely NI gets reduced.
Yet another one who has absolutely NO idea what it costs to provide and equip police, fire service, ambulance service, infrastructure, defence,social services and find enough daft buggas to work these things for what was until very recently, a piss poor remuneration.....I know, cos I worked in public service almost all my working life and take it from, the wages were NOTHING to write home about.
Money from your salary paid into your pension is actually removed before it's tax. Therefore you pay less NI and PAYE if you pay into a pension, as there's less salary available to tax.
A friend worked in the prison service,rising to governor .He took his prison service pension, and when he started getting his state pension ,found £400 per month being "stolen" from his prison service pension.
If you are young, why would you stay in the UK. The system is broken and we don't have the calibre of politicans to fix it because that would take being honest with the public. We have 20yr (3 elections because this labour government will only nake things worse)
Cos Australia is too expensive.
The USA has little welfare provision.
Europe is too dangerous.
Japan won't let you in.
Because of a love of England and her countryside, her churches and her culture.
life is going to need to get a lot harder to dissuade new comers from arriving. stop all benefits, and let the suffering brit go toe to toe with the new arrivals. there will be great suffering in the nation in the next 30 years.
That’s because it’s a great country to live in. What ‘system’ is ‘broken’? If you think politicians are so terrible why don’t you become one yourself? You obviously have all the answers
@@vvwalker7261 Because Australia is too expensive.
USA has no social provision.
Europe is too dangerous.
Japan won't let you in.
@@anthonylulham3473 Actually our 900 redundant medieval churches could house loads of the illegal arrivals.
It's difficult to get a job over 55, so how do they expect people to find a job at 65+ years?
It doesn't suit them to acknowledge that fact so they completely ignore reality and go ahead with the policy regardless.
The care sector for example is desperate for staff. It’s not too hard to get a job in that sector. All you would have to do is say to get access to the state pension you need to do 5 years national service in care, looking after those 10+ years older than you (so you could do it from 65 to 70 years old). Then when you need care yourself in your 70s or 80s you’ll get it from someone in their 60s. This would actually mean that care is potentially more compassionate as you will be almost peers and see yourself in the near future as the cared for person. The government could also encourage re-skilling in jobs that are in demand with tax incentives for taking on older workers.
We can afford PFI, wars, migrant hotels, civil servants pensions, quangos, net zero but cold elderly people are just too much
100% agree . The we can't afford argument is absurd
Why haven’t the government been challenged on changing the retirement age, i’ve paid into the system since the age of 16 to be told my retirement age would be 65 now 67 ! How is that legal ? 😡😡
Because people are living longer than ever before and the birth rate is well below population replacement rate and still decreasing meaning the old age dependancy ratio is increasing.
The public service index linked pensions cost 1 trillion pounds - thats 1x10¹² or £1,000,000,000,000.
I started paying into my pension using SERPS (state earnings related pension scheme ). The more you paid in the more you got out. However with more and more people paying nothing in they stopped it.
@@cobbler40 Are you blaming the public?
I've got £67k in my serps pot.....😮
I've never once heard politicians complaining about us 'Boomers generation' while we worked our butts off for 50 years. Now we are due our pensions they want to wipe their hands of us. I've been fortunate to have had good health despite working long hours all of my life but suffered burn out while working in the building industry when my employer increased my working week to 48 hours from 40. This forced me to retire 2 years early at 64 and 'cash in' a private pension just to get me over the line and receive my state pension.
Anyone who suggests increasing the retirement age has never done a heavy physical job, changing career at 60 something isn't an option for most. I had planned to work to 66 but retiring two years early has really messed things up financially 😒
Can someone remind me again how much they and their mates stole through COVID PPE contracts?
Or how much they've given Ukraine?
Billions. And don't forget Gordon Brown's pillaging of the state pension funds back in 2008, which were never repaid. He the created the myth used by Tories and Labour that there was a pension black hole.
Or how much they generously give away in foreign aid. Other countries use it to improve their roads and infrastructure whilst ours falls to pieces.
I'm 49 years old, recently laid off, and in a new phase of my life. What are my best options for steady income given that I have 425K saved for retirement, 10K in an HSA, and a property that might bring in an additional 200K?
It’s reasonable to consider getting a financial advisor now, but delaying retirement might be a wiser choice
Is it time for a career shift or should I consolidate my investments into a single account? If I go for the latter, how do I do it right, and what could be the drawbacks? Plus, with a $200K property sale on the horizon, should I combine my investments or diversify them across different markets?
These are key questions for a financial planner. I connected with mine at a summit, and with her help, my wife and I reallocated our 1.7M portfolio between a traditional IRA and brokerage account. She’s been managing the investment with our approval and has helped us recover twice our losses. Currently hodl’ing steady and cautiously navigating the market
That’s impressive! My portfolio has been struggling. Who is your advisor?
June Renae Matthysse. Look her up online, she's well-known.
Low pension expectations, low pay, high taxes, cultural decimation = brain drain = lower tax revenue = less money for health and pensions.
If you are young it is best not to save for retirement. That is Labour’s crystal clear message.
It's not even a labour thing for me, under Tories it was already impossible to save and I'm 30 years old.
Do you know how the work-place pensions are advertised? When it says 'and your boss pays in too!'
I always envision a future government saying 'and that part will be ours.'
The pension/tax raids of the future will be horrific.
They would have never crafted pensions to involve 'free money' from your boss, if they didn't intend for a lot of it to go to the Treasury one day.
No, its a uni partty issue and the point is you should be provately saving
The only reason there is mass migration is because the people migrating here are from areas that are much worse.... Otherwise, most people born here are increasingly looking to emigrate
@@wattbenj Private pensions are owned by the beneficiary, not the government; so they can't take it (without ending over 2,000 years worth of the law). So ... stop fear mongering.
The government can pay for foreigners straight off the boat . But not our elderly .
The state pension has increased at double the rate of average incomes since 2000. What’s your point?
@jontalbot1 what's you comment hit to do with hus comment?
Austerity is a political choice and has nothing to do with asylum seekers.
@@jontalbot1it is still one of the lowest among the developed countries. It very much depends on what a country's priorities are and the UK devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to state pensions than most other advanced economies
@@miraladak2314We spend about 13% of total government spending on state pensions, more or less bang on the EU average. Highest spenders are Greece and Italy ( both over 16%). Lowest are in Eastern Europe. Check your facts first.
I am gen-Z'd. I currently put away 20% of my income in to my personal pension and S&S ISA. There's no way the state pension will be sustainable when I am older.
Agreed, but current pensioners don’t care about that as long as the current tax payers keeps on funding their pensions.
You are in for a hell of a shock when you come to taking your private pension after the administrators have taken their cut and the tax man
We paid for pensioners when we were working.That's the system. We didn't make the rules. !@@hughiemg2
Brilliant idea but you're costing your youth for your aging self when that money has been inflated away. Would it be better to put that towards the deposit for your house, or against paying off the mortgage? almost definitely.
@@peteraston4753 no tax is paid on payments into private pensions - why wouldnt there be tax to pay on the way out? You get the benefit of compounding growth on your pension which again no tax was paid on, and you get to take 25% out as cash tax free. Its a terrific deal.
Starmer is going after the Elderly because he is WEF and the organization want to get rid of the Elderly
And the poor, and children, oh, and of course men and women. The only people left will be the WEF elites who will be the only people to be allowed to have families and children. Imagine a world full of the offspring of Starmer & Co?
Your evidence for this?
Listen up: the state pension has doubled at twice the rate of average earnings since 2000. This year it is increasing by 8.5%; next year 4%. How is Starmer ‘going for the elderly? Why not check out the facts instead repeating crap you read in newspapers owned by people so patriotic they don’t pay taxes here
@@jeremiahpoole6526Don't hold your breath.
@@jeremiahpoole6526it is very obvious that he was the chosen one and plucked from the guilds of London by WEF. And the establishment from whence he came.
We have a moral obligation to pay pensions to those who have worked their whole lives for them. Pensions are not the government's money to cut, they belong to the pensioners themselves. We are long overdue major tax reform to include wealth taxes, new top rates of income tax, and windfall taxes on natural monopolies. Rich people complain about public finances but they're in some cases in possession of more money than it's physically possible to spend in a lifetime. I'm not in favour of taxes so high as to be punitive. But the super rich have gained spectacularly from capitalism for the last five decades. Ordinary people have in many ways become worse off.
A thought has just occurred to me that the establishment keeps whining about insufficient young people to support the ageing population. I believe this is a total myth as with modern industrial processes and automation less and less people are needed to support society. On one hand the establishment is talking about the basic income without the need to work which totally contradicts the not enough future labour mantra.
Farming is a classic example were fewer and fewer people are producing more and more of our food. That is if we don’t build over all farmland
The problem is less working people means less tax revenue from wages. This figure isn't made up in business taxes when a robot/machine replaces a human workers.
Businesses want automation as in the long run it's cheaper for the business than employing humans.
Who is the ‘establishment’? Who is in it?
Because the welfare system is a Ponzi scheme it's assumptions were based on having a pyramid population, which isn't sustainable in the long run.
@@jontalbot1 Rather stupid question!
@@gavjlewis That is were sensible taxation methods come into play.
I worked all my days, and I just made it by the skin of my teeth as regards health was concerned. I was just getting away with being 65 but they added on another eight months. It is all well and good saying that we are all living longer lives, but the repetitive factory work I did was made harder by doing away with our sick pay and loosing lots of our holiday benefits and also making our factory pension practically useless to us. The changes to our workplace jobs and break reduction are all stress factors that build up throughout our working lives. It’s not just common old joes like me the better off pensioners should not be made to bear the brunt of this incompetent government currently being run by Slabface Starmer. Better off pensioners have deserved their rights to more secure pensions after a long working lifetime. Lots of men and women don’t have good health in their sixties and that should be taken into consideration. Right now it is disgraceful what the government is doing to our ladies in not giving them the rights and money 💰 that they have earned it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s time to rid the NHS of all of the corrupt ted tape and back door privatisation it’s time for Reform Party to step up and change the system that is not working for us.
So let me get this straight. As a young person living in Britain, I;
- will never own a home
- will be forever stuck paying needlessly high rent
- will be earning around 10k less than most developed countries forever
- will be stuck with high cost of living
- will be raising my kids to become wage slaves, who also will never own a home and will live in a glorified, country-sized retirement home
- likely won't be able to get NHS appointments at a reasonable timescale
- won't be able to retire until I'm in my 70s
- won't get the support I need when I do retire
- will probably die from an avoidable health condition caused by NHS neglect
- if I dont die from NHS neglect, I'll probably freeze to death as an old man
So why should I stay here? From what I can tell, being British is financially detrimental and is quite literally terrible for your well-being and health. I think I'm done with this place.
You forgot to mention that the state pension will probably be means tested so your lifetime of work & saving will be stolen at retirement to pay the spend happy & workshy.
My Pension is NOT A BENEFIT I Payed 50 Years for IT!!!
No you didn’t. That was the original purpose of NI but that changed years ago. Receipts from NI just go into the pot for all spending
@@jontalbot1 - Sorry, but that was the social contract. Pay into the NI pot and at the end of your working life, you will receive a State Pension, just like every other civilized nation in Europe. No point getting salty about it now, pensioners have been made into scapegoats by government, and the Gen Z brigade are falling for the propaganda.
@@jontalbot1 This is called theft. Or, may be, stupidity. Or both.
@@jontalbot1previous governments were told in the 1940s to ring fence it., they chose to rob it. So how come pensioners get accused and punished?
@@jontalbot1you are still paying to receive a pension
In fact the other benefits, other than pensioner "benefits" are a greater cost to the UK govt. In the 2023-2024 financial year, the UK government is expected to spend approximately £265.5 billion on benefits and pensions. Out of this, around £125 billion is allocated specifically for state pensions. Why pick on the pensioners? Lots of other people get other benefits totalling £140 billion.Just over one billion is peanuts in the scale of govt expenditure. Some lunatic somewhere started all this off and it keeps on rambling on.There is no strategy on all of this because the govt is useless.
Because as a percentage of growth pensioners benefits are growing faster than any other group (per capita and in absolute terms too).
@@TankEnMate Just not true. The level of increase for the coming year will be the same average level of per cent increase for wages and salaries. And the existing pension is a third of the average level of pay considerably lower.
@@erongi233 The triple lock means the pension will always out perform, because at a minimum it matches wage growth, any time it doesn't match wage growth it is guaranteed to be higher. Ipso facto under the triple lock pensions will outperform wages.
@@TankEnMate In the long run, that is true. However, the triple lock is the only way to increase the destitute pension level, compared with most in the OECD. That is a fair comparison.Pensioners are desperate to retain the triple lock as the only way to increase the dismal pension. Nearly all benefits and the amount spent per state student and the amount spent per NHS patient are all low compared with Europe.It is all on the cheap and the poor ,or none,productivity increases are the cause of the crisis.
@@erongi233 Well if the state pension is to be increased then other taxes will need to go up.
Its very hard for anyone over 45 to stay in employment unless your the boss.
UK can afford the old age state pension but it CANT AFFORD GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PENSIONS. Virtually no one in the private sector gets 28% employer pension contributions but this is what the government has burdened us with for government pensions.
Governments of the future will be afraid to upset pensioners because it will be such a large group of voters 35%. If anything they’ll give them more money not less.
how much does it cost to "means test"? make benefits universal and claw back through taxes.
State pension should be raised to £1,200 a month but only for the over 70s.
Winter fuel £500pa extra but only for the over 80s.
That would be a slice of Heaven
Which is still below what most European Countries pay,including Iceland and Cyprus.
@@davidbarlow350 And is 12% cheaper than the current system.
As people aged 66-70 get nothing and you can drop the Pension Credit system too
It's good to dream
I'm 55 almost 56, under current system I'm due to retire at 67. I have early stage degenerative arthritis, I need surgery on my knee. My back is dodgy too. I work full time as a support worker in social care. It's often a heavy and physical job as well as mentally challenging. I also look after my own adult children who both have autism. Most days I am completely exhausted and in constant pain.
Not that long ago I would have been looking forward to retiring in just over 4 years. As it stands I still have 11 years, I'm not sure my body will let me carry on that long, let alone 4 years on top of that! I'm not alone in my situation, there are probably millions like me who are terrified of being unable to work and having to negotiate the downright cruel and humiliating benefits system when really we should be looking forward to being able to retire like our parents, now in 70s and 80s, did at an age where we could still actually live a reasonable life.
We can if we didn't give so much away to immigrants, and overseas development.
UK government should
1) Impose a wealth tax on individuals with assets of £1 million or more
2) Impose a financial transaction tax of a fraction of a percent to force the UK's massive financial sector to contribute to the common good
UK pensioners should
1) Prepare to move out of London
2) Prepare to share houses with other pensioners
No of course not! The money is needed for immigrants!
No, it's because Britain is no longer colonizing and extracting wealth from other countries.
@@greendragonspirit1646 and our elected overlords sold all of the UKs industry / public services for a private service / banking economy that only propagates the rich getting richer
It would be interesting to see how much the winter fuel cut is likely to cost the nhs.
A measure of the governing party is how they treat the elderly. These are the people who made this country what it was, not what it is.
Treated like crap
Can't believe all these people slagging off pensioners. Don't they realise that will be themselves one day ?
The state pension is rising by £460 per year however those on the basic pension are only getting £350 per year the difference between the state pension and the basic pension is not far off £3000 per year absolutely disgraceful
So we can’t afford pension benefits, but we keep hearing about them toying with the idea of universal basic income?
Means testing the state pension will de-facto raise the retirement age. All pension planning assumes a full state pension, and that includes all public sector and company pensions. In my case any means testing will force me to work until at least 71 because it will cut away at both my and my wife's state pensions, as I am the only one who has a private pension.
My private pension which I paid into for 15 years is paying out nearly as much as my state pension I paid into for 40 years ?
The public sector has seen zero productivity growth since 1997, whilst the private sector has improved by 27%. If Govt wants to fill that gap "black hole", then they should link public sector department & council budgets, public sector payrises & pension contributions to productivity improvements.
Public sector productivity and private sector productivity are two totally different things. 😂
The public sector has no profit motive and their output isn't market priced. The military, courts and police aren't even measured as they use output equals input.
Add in the tax exemptions on assets and lower tax liabilities on profits for the private sector and the productivity of the private sector plummets. That isn't even taking into account what the public sector would charge the private sector according to market rates for services, or subsidies.
This Tory line you are spouting is for uneducated plebs.
@@cfalvl2380 - That's the point, you introduce a profit motive or equivalent proxy, and an internal market. Those courts that throughput more cases get more funds, and the people working there get performance related pay. The ones who don't get their budgets cut, salaries cut, and pension contributions frozen.
If you don't do this you get what happened with Network Rail, when it took over from Railtrack. With no profit motive, you get Empire building. It spends 4x as much in real terms, has double the staffing, its head gets £750k, and it's still responsible for 70-80% of the delays.
Afford it ? We’ve already paid for it !
No we haven't. Pensions are paid from general taxation, what we paid in taxes over the years went to pay for the pensions of our parents and grandparents. Now we need youngsters to work to pay our pensions, but unfortunately there are less and less of them because the birth rate is falling. That is happening because our stupid generation allowed housing and rent prices to rocket.
We're supposed to be one of the world's largest economies. Of course we can afford pensions and winter fuel allowances. There's plenty of money in the country, it's just in the wrong hands. Tax the rich! We should be LOWERING the pension age, not raising it.
They can give £3 billion a year forever! To the war machine….
The problem with means testing is it will reduce the incentives to both work & save & costs billions to administer.
According to the ONS the healthy life expectancy (the age at which you get health related issues) in the UK is 63.5 years for men, and slightly more for women.
Seriously mess with state pension - if you think the WFA backlash was bad then think again. If you have fulfilled your end of the criteria then you should receive your entitlement. Do to pensions what has been done to the WFA all hell will break out.
Hmm how about stopping MPs energy allowances for second homes, subsided food in parliament, etc....
There has been an ongoing campaign in our media for many years seeking to imply that pensioners are a tax burden on younger generations. False in every sense because all governments have purposefully devalued our currency for decades to lower government debt payments and inflate the economy. That means that the real value of your contributions are eroded. Furthermore pensioners experienced high inflation, high interest and housing inflation over the decades. So a double and triple whammy. Labour seeks to expand the availability of housing by forcing pensioners into flats and care homes gaining more money by forcing them to sell their houses to pay for care and robbing their families by raising inheritance tax. The only thing that Labour has ever done for ordinary indigenous people is raise their taxes and favour every minority and foreign groups.
@@Backwardlooking agree on every point with the exception of housing inflation affecting pensioners.
Id say thats the last thing they were affected by and one of the advantages to getting old in this country is buying your 3 bed semi house for £10,000 and it being worth £750,000 some years later. Quite a return from the inital outlay.
@@seany8787 In 1972 the economy went into a depression. The jobs for young people were scarce even for graduates. Governments of both Heath and Wilson attempted to control the economy through interest rates primarily linked to mortgage rates for political reasons and elections. The loosening of money controls then precipitated a huge inflation in housing prices. First time buyers specifically the now maligned‘Baby Boomers’ were mostly priced out of the market. I’ve lived through all of these events and both studied and taught economics at a higher level.
@@Backwardlooking In 2000 I was 13 and my family (mum, dad, me and brother) moved house into a semi rural, 4 bed semi detached. It cost, I think, £72,000
Its now, some 20 ish years later worth £420k plus. Its also had 2 people flew the nest, so its a big house for 2 aging parents.
I was too young to work in 2000 but I can assure you that had I been, my wages wouldnt have kept up with that % rise.
The housing market when I bought my house (my first) was painful. Its even worse now. We will soon outgrow our first home, which bought at 151k is probably worth around 75k more in 6 -7 years.
Theres nothing much bigger than my house for the price people want for them. Im probably in a sweet (sour?) spot of looking for a 300-400k house but it seems everyone else is as well.
There was a distinct feeling for my generation that those on the ladder have pulled it up. Young people turn to renting because theres no way to save for a deposit big enough for the inflated house prices, and so that dead money goes towards paying off landlords mortgages and not their own
Boomers might have had it hard. I think our generation and those younger now than millennial me have it worse. Its supposed to get better for the generation after you.
It's my pension and l paid for it !
Can the UK afford the state pension and winter fuel allowance you ask. Yes there's plenty of money to go around , the trouble is there's a small minority of extremely wealthy people with all the money. Why are ordinary people always the ones expected to take a hit when those who have most are not? Why can we always find money for wars?
The gold-plated civil service pensions is what the government needs to look at.
Yeah it's funny isn't it how these are never unsustainable? Sue Gray on 170k & million pound pension but nothing to see here.
Could someons fact check this . . . . . In the fortys the government entered into a Contract with workers whereby if the workers paid National insurance the government Promised them a pension???? Where could I find details about this, anyone know?
A subsistence level pension as reflected in the tax rate paid. Other countries pay higher pensions because they charge higher taxes. It really isnt that hard to understand. People in the UK are supposed to use the money not charged in tax to save and supplement their own retirement - thats how the UK system is set up.
I don’t know how you can say the government has ruled out tax rises…
The freezing of the thresholds means we are getting tax rises every year automatically!!!!
It’s crippling
The pension is not a benefit we have paid into. This for 50years of working life to get a meagre pension to live on
State Pension is legally defined as a Benefit.
I'm afraid it is classified as a benefit. Look up the legislation.
@@Hiram8866who cares what it says it’s not a benefit period. I gather you are in your 20 or 30s with little knowledge
@@pipins3616 I'm just reporting what the legalisation says about the state pension.
All benefits come from the same organisation, the DWP. As does the state pension.
I have no axe to grind here. I'm 62.
@@pipins3616 They are right. Perhaps it’s you that needs to acquire more ‘knowledge’ first before replying with baseless insults.
The winter fuel payment was never mean to be a permanent benefit. It was always intended to be temporary fix.
Stop trying to be a World power supporting any and all commers and concentrate on the UK electorate.
Enough is enough. Abolish state pensions. Cut my taxes!
We have paid taxes and national insurance all our working lives so I think we have paid our dues.
We need to encourage the younger generation to enter the workforce straight after leaving school. Apprenticeships are the way forward and people that take this route as I did at the age of sixteen will not be saddled with thousands of pounds worth of debt by not going to university. This will also have the added benefit of reducing the tax burden on the tax payer
At age 71, I could not go back to working 10 hours a day, 4 on 4 off., in a cold food factory. At age 63, I could retire early and did so. The potential alternative could be 8 years on long term sick leave
The solution is easy - increase National Insurance. This is not a new dynamics as when many of us started work (in my case the 1970's) am sure average age expectancy was significantly lower still. So these same issues existed to some degree. But the NIC payments have been adjusted over the years to compensate. Plus they have also shifted the age you can claim it upwards and the number of full years needed to claim a full pension. All of which I've just accepted and carried on because whilst obviously disappointing, it didn't break the whole concept of working to preserve your future.
What long term damage will it do to the trust of our nation if this contact with the UK working population is effectively plundered from beneath us as you reach the point where that contract is realised. It will also mean that for those that are young, keeping your hard earned assets so visible in banks and company pensions etc will be regarded as naive in the extreme. Best live for the moment and rack up credit as the future is too uncertain.
So please Labour, be more sensible.
We spend much less on pensions as a share of GDP than other countries who are not proposing to increase the pension age. Furthermore pension age increases are just about the most anti poor policy imaginable as the rich can afford to retire anyway and the poor die earlier.
If the taxpayers can afford the upkeep of an seemingly infinite Illegal Migrants who have not payed into the system then that money can be used on those who have payed in all their working lives instead
With the continued UK push for escalation against Russia, I can easily envisage the "Pension Problem" soon being one of the least of the UK's most pressing problems.
I'd be curious to hear what you think about the idea that the UK should stop paying interest to its own sovereign bank. As far as I understand this is almost double the amount of this black hole and we are one of the few countries that does this.
I think there are some broader economic aspects to consider. Pensioners will spend all their money, and so this will cycle directly back into the economy. Working people will be saving for pensions and paying for large assets such as their home and car. Perhaps a bit over half their income cycles directly back into the economy as a result. There's also the fact that because of our high direct and indirect taxes, it only takes a couple of cycles of pensioners money through businesses and individuals before nearly 80 percent or so is back in government coffers. All this means is that paying pensions is a remarkably effective way of boosting and stabilising the wider economy and local basic services that rely on pensioner spending such as local shops cafes buses and taxis - and these services employ a lot of people. Put the other way, cutting pensions would be a pretty good way to trigger a long lasting recession that would cause a lot of marginal local businesses to go to the wall.
The French 🇫🇷 had an answer to the inequality back in the 1790s .Think we should try it here ?
The WEF will have terminated pensioners by then
Make the pensionable age 73. That means people will be so knackered by the time that they get their pension they will curl their toes up by 75. So a win win.
Pensioners will be offered a one-way ticket to Switzerland.
UK gives foreign AID, gives billions to Ukraine, gives billions to illegal migrants, gives foreign born people council house. Then you get people justifying taken money from pensioners. I am an immigrant and i am grateful to UK. I believe I must contribute by paying my own way.
The topic is winter fuel allowance but it covered the govt tax income and how to reduce pension spending? I think the super rich will not mind higher luxury goods/properties taxes . The increase of retirement age for pension can work but shows no empathy on old citizens who have worked for more than 35 years in the society even they might pay income taxes for less than 50% of their career periods. I would suggest some part-time work policy for those between 64-70 so that they can get % of full pensions while they can get income from work. For some work that requires experience and skill, it keep the productivity. For such policy, the govt should have policy on improving the health of citizen such as tax benefits/even bonus of less alcoholic drinks. The housing supply and policy should be improved so that there will be 3-4 tiers supply based on the applicant unit annual income- the public housing , the middle levels (maybe 2 levels) housing ( interchange-saleable between this income class only) and the private sector . This will improve to reduce the living expenses of citizens, while also keep the building industry moving. This will also improve the expendable income % with general wages annual increase. The next is to study the public transport and to improve reducing expense of each citizens on it, this will also reduce the pollution/CO2 level. The government is working on sustainable energy sources and should continue it, it also provides job opportunities for such growing industries.
I can’t work at the age 71 , I have heath problems as it is . And I really struggling now . This will force people to give up and be homeless . You do slow down when you’re older . I never thought I would . I just can’t do it .
I agree with the axing of the WF-A but I disagree with the income threshold at which the government has limited WF. WF should not be limited to P-C/other means tested benefits, the income threshold should rise to 15k/16k.
Which state pension will rise by £450? I would think that it would be the NEW state pension, which I cannot receive due to being born before the quaifying year. I understand that the Tripple Lock works differently on my pension as the "opted out" part receives a lower uplift than the rest. Is that correct? I will find out when I receive notification I suppose.
Work 'til you drop..........?
Now that's a great way to demoralise your workforce.
The pension age should be raised from 65 to 120 and then the Government will not have to pay out anything. Also get rid of the NHS and transfer the money to private hospitals for rich people like politicians.
Finally someone talking sense. Why tf is everyone a champagne socialist? Actually wtf!
Easily affordable. Just stop Overseas Aid, aid for countries to go green, payments to illegal immigrants, subsidies to private industries. By my reckoning that amounts to 29,386,000,000. Do the home work look it up. We are truly being taken for fools.
Actually the next pension increase of 4%, covering wage rise from May 23 to July 24, will apply in April 25, after the winter. Moreover the positive difference between wage increase and inflation, for the period above mentioned, will be wiped out by additional inflation from July 24. Simple math that is also applicable to the increase of April 24. There is also the extra inflation from April 24 to October 24, when we start heating our houses. This is to say that, this year, many pensioners are left with no financial cushion, defenseless, without the £200-300 allowance, to face a 10% increase in Gas & Electricity cost. Well done Starmer !!!
Get the money from the energy companies who are coning the British people
You failed to mention anything about the gold plated pensions of the public sector. How can the country afford those?
Perhaps don’t give tens of billions abroad!!!
If we can afford to finance wars against other countries that have absolute nothing to do with the UK or have any UK interest at stake, then we can afford a pension.
However it appears we can not afford both , so those that do support war with Ukraine, you better decide which option you want.
The or or your pension and heating