General Chat

'More than half of Brits lie to hide their lack of knowledge concerning current affairs.

Some are so embarrassed at being flummoxed by foreign policy; stumped by the Syrian conflict or the US Presidential election that they tell fibs to hide their shame'. (Today's Times.)

I see that now the government are proposing to cut the rate of annual increase of the state pension. Nothing at all to do with Brexit of course.
Possibly not so much of a problem for people who have an occupational pension as well, or for couples who own their property & both get a full pension but what about the people who live alone in rented properties & have only the State pension to live on.

It was stated that it is in order to give more help to the younger people who struggle financially, but they have the possibility of earning more money. An 80 year old doesn't & they are likely to have higher utility bills due to being less mobile.
:-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

Its probably more to do with trying to cut the Benefit bill. Despite general opinion, the OAP is the greatest load on that system.

"The triple lock was introduced by the coalition in 2010 and was a guarantee to increase the state pension every year by the higher of inflation, average earnings or a minimum of 2.5%."

So if inflation & average earnings increased by less than 2.5%, why should the pension increase by more? Current low income penioners can still claim housing benefit to help with rent/council tax. If penions should seriously lag behind in the future, there's always the opportunity to re-visit the payments. Lets not forget that the Baby-Boomers are & will be working their way through the system for probably another 10+ years.

Although there are few creases to iron out or be explained more thoroughly, the universal pension coming into effect this financial year will give new, qualifying, pensioners £155pw at the current week.

Although I don't yet qualify for a state OAP, I've worked enough credit-years and have been quoted for the full rate for when I do 'retire'.

That's right Dec, the pension problem is nothing to do with Brexit per se.

The whole benefits system is a mess but too much of a political hot potato to radically reform.
The reduction in the benefits cap is a start, though. It encourages the low paid or unemployed to have more kids than they can afford.
A cap of £23.000 in London and £20,000 elsewhere is said to equate roughly to the after-tax income of the average worker. Why would anyone go to the trouble of working when they can pick up the same money for no effort?

(Although the black economy is thriving). Housing benefit and public housing is often a scam in many cases with tenants sub-letting and multiple-occupying.

My daughter works for the NHS and her gross income is nowhere near £20,000.
I have two nieces, one of whom is married and has four kids, soon to be five, who has never worked. The other is unmarried with three kids and has only occasionally worked part time.
My brother-in-law has been off "sick" for years but still manages to work in a charity shop, run a car and have a couple of holidays, albeit in the UK, each year.
In the meantime I worked until 66 and paid into a pension which is now paying a reasonable income but on which I am taxed.
Who is the mug in that scenario?

I think it's atrocious that a person can work full time, yet still need tax credits to survive! Why aren't employers (including local/county councils) forced to pay a 'proper' wage? I know there's the 'living' wage - but that's just a re-naming of the
'basic' wage. and it's not a living wage, it's a 'survival' wage.

Houses are too expensive, rents are too high. builders are buying up land and 'sitting' on it as prices rise, as are supermarkets (Tesco's in particular).
If they haven't built on the land they purchased to build on within 2 years, they should be forced to sell it to someone who WILL build, at the price they paid..
That would stop the 3 biggest building firms from playing their game, and ensure adequate, reasonably priced, housing.

George Osborne's 2012 Budget offered tax cuts for the nation's wealthiest along side the notorious 'granny tax' plus ten billion pounds of benefit spending cuts.

Mrs May may or may not plough a different furrow.