whooppee!! extravagant pension increase

chesky369

Your point about pensions being pegged to earnings is correct, Errata, however that's for state pensions and we're going through a period where many, many people in 'middle England' have contributed to and are now drawing, occupational pensions. And these people are hugely better off than pensioners have ever been and are more likely to own their own houses than ever before.

However, this ignores the fact that many pensioners are really, really, poverty-stricken and I don't think that should be the case in Britain in the 21st century.

Errata

I think many people in middle England have always benefitted from an occupational pension. In a way, that's what put them in the middle.

[Deleted User]

Errata wrote: »

The plain fact is that since pensions stopped being pegged to earnings there is a very broad agreement that pensioners have become poorer than they were before that happened.

thats actually untrue,as rpi in many of these years has been below the average wage increase,becareful what you wish for

Errata

woodbine wrote: »

thats actually untrue,as rpi in many of these years has been below the average wage increase,becareful what you wish for

erm............thanks............I think.

[Deleted User]

what i was saying is that in some recent years pensions have increased by the level of rpi whereas wages in general have increased by cpi,rpi has on aveage been higher than cpi,therefore pensioners have had a better deal than they might have had

Savvy_Sue

I think that the current generation of pensioners is probably better off than any future generation will be, on the whole. I realise that's a huge generalisation, and there's probably more than one generation of you out there, but with the end of final salary pensions there's a lot of us facing an 'interesting' time in the future!

I'm the scheme administrator for our company pension scheme, so I'm always telling new starters to get signed up and paying in as early as they can, but fewer than half the staff make their own contributions, and those that do (including me!) aren't paying nearly enough in. As the employer contribution is only 2%, that's a large ticking timebomb ...

margaretclare

chesky369 wrote: »

Sorry, my mistake, thought that was what you wanted :

...Where can I find the national average, and whether it is per family or per individual? And where is it stated how many pensioners are living below it, just on it, or above it?...

Having thought about it again, I agree with Errata.

In one's pre-retirement years i.e. the working lifetime, there are expenses which one doesn't have as a pensioner. Mortgage paid off - usually. Children grown and flown. These are huge expenses. In my case, although I had a decent job I was never able to save a penny-piece because of these expenses, and thank goodness I was paying full NI contributions and the pension scheme at work.

Many of the people I hear of on the lowest incomes of all have also pretty low expenses because of benefits. Council tax benefit - that's very valuable. For us that would be £110 a month. So you are down to the very basics. Food, clothes and warmth.

However, here are more official figures: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1274

"In 2006/07, pensioner couples received an average income of £508 per week, compared with £267 per week for single men and £240 per week for single women."

As a couple, that means both our incomes added together, that puts us at a smidgen above the 'average'. But there will be couples below that and couples above it, with many in or near the middle. DH is slightly below the average for single men quoted above and I am slightly above the average for single women.

"• Average incomes conceal considerable variations between poorer and richer pensioners."

This is what I've been struggling to say.

lilac_lady

If you reach pension age with no debt or mortgage payment I'm sure that retirement is easier, especially when an large bill arrives.

margaretclare

Lilaclady, it's possible to organise it so that large bills do not arrive. We have all our household bills set up to be paid by direct debit through a joint account which is funded by both of us. This has been a huge reassurance at various times e.g. when in hospital or away on holiday. It all happens like clockwork, no need to worry.

[Deleted User]

One of my neighbours came round this evening and said that she was a bit worried as she had been up until her birthday been getting 10p per week income guarantee and had been getting the same amount since she was 60 .it meant that she didn't pay council tax which was of great benefit to her .She had her 65th birthday 10 days ago and suddenly she has been getting a payment of £18.91 every Monday into her account instead of the nominal 10p.She's not quite sure why its gone up so much and is worried about using it to spend in case there has been a mistake.I don't receive this benefit so I couldn't help her .Does it rise when she gets to 65 or has there been a problem with their accounting system do you think