State Pension Fiasco

Oldbiggles

I suppose we should all rejoice now that we are to receive a less than inflation increase to our Pensions. After all, ar'nt we the ones who have always helped out our Country in its time of need. And it couldn't be more needy now could it, with its massive debt of circa £180 billion. What I would like to know is, who is lending us this money and where do they get it from when the whole world is supposed to be stoney broke?

pollypenny

We've just had a pension increase above inflation.

seven-day-weekend

I personally am glad to get any increase. Many workers will not.

tanith

I'm very grateful to get any sort of rise in pension..

[Deleted User]

pension increases are based on sept rpi which last sept was -1.4%,so the chancellor reverted to the rossi index which gave a rise of 2.5% or in real terms 3.91%,far above what many workers will be getting and above what many other benefits are going up by

Biggles

... and last year the same system got us 5%. It's done us proud recently.

Jennifer_Jane

woodbine wrote: »

pension increases are based on sept rpi which last sept was -1.4%,so the chancellor reverted to the rossi index which gave a rise of 2.5% or in real terms 3.91%,far above what many workers will be getting and above what many other benefits are going up by

You were right not to defer your pension. The 2.5% is only on the Basic State Pension and not on the Extra State Pension (the deferred amount, when the monthly pension was completely foregone - ie given up - in favour of future increases) nor on any other bits and pieces which make up the total State pension.

The fact that we were promised (by the Pensions people) that annual increases would be effective on both BSP and Extra State Pension and that that has not been honoured, means that the actual increase is not 2.5%, but only 1.9%. For me this is a weekly increase of £1.48.

This last year of working my salary increase was 3.2%.

I hope that Gordon Brown is not going to boast about the 2.5%, as that is not technically correct. People who deferred pensions did so on the promise of their being increased in line with the BSP.

Jen

[Deleted User]

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

You were right not to defer your pension. The 2.5% is only on the Basic State Pension and not on the Extra State Pension (the deferred amount, when the monthly pension was completely foregone - ie given up - in favour of future increases) nor on any other bits and pieces which make up the total State pension.

The fact that we were promised (by the Pensions people) that annual increases would be effective on both BSP and Extra State Pension and that that has not been honoured, means that the actual increase is not 2.5%, but only 1.9%. For me this is a weekly increase of £1.48.

This last year of working my salary increase was 3.2%.

I hope that Gordon Brown is not going to boast about the 2.5%, as that is not technically correct. People who deferred pensions did so on the promise of their being increased in line with the BSP.

Jen

ok so they broke a promise...how surprising:eek:,but at 1.9% it was still a real term increase of 3.3% based on septembers - 1.4% rpi,which is more than the last salary increase you received,i really dont see what your gripe is?

zygurat789

woodbine wrote: »

ok so they broke a promise...how surprising:eek:,but at 1.9% it was still a real term increase of 3.3% based on septembers - 1.4% rpi,which is more than the last salary increase you received,i really dont see what your gripe is?

The promise was that they would be linked to RPI which meant they should have gone down but the deferred pension remained the same and did not go down, therefore, in real terms, it went up.
When was the last time anyone was given an extra, contra-contractual payment like this. Pensioners should be very, very grateful and thankful and stop moaning about this.
And yes I have a direct interest in this and I was extremely thankful when I heard the announcement.

[Deleted User]

I still haven't received the notice which says its going up yet ,cutting it a bit fine I think .but what ever it is its better than going down I guess.

jennifernil

I cannot say that I have actually noticed this reduction in prices.

Pretty much everything we have to pay for has gone up.

House insurance up
Car insurance up
Travel insurance up
Fuel up
Food up
Car servicing up
NT sub up
Breakdown cover up

So what is going down?

Our pensions increase will be a total of £3.36 per week.