An end to the free swim for kids and over 60's

tanith

Thats one axe thats hit home with me, I will now have to cut my swimming sessions down from 4 to 1 or 2 . :mad:

From the end of July there is going to be no more free swimming for the under 16's and over 60's you just knew this was coming but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow... swimming is the one excercise that many elderly people can manage to do even with health problems but its expensive when you are on a fixed income... they say as a justification that pensioners will still go swimming even if they have to pay ... yes we will but not nearly as often and I for one will have to cut it by half at least and its really been helping my arthritis going so often..... I'm so mad ....

Errata

I'm struggling to understand the logic behind this. If the pool is open and staffed it doesn't matter if there are 60 pensioners enjoying a free swim at the same time or none, the overhead costs are the same.

tanith

I don't understand it either but I think there is some sort of payment per swim made but I don't know by whom or to whom , but there is no way of knowing how many people swim for free anyway as they don't keep check of who goes in for free... maybe someone will come along and explain how it works as I know not all councils signed up to the scheme ...

Hannah_10

Free swims for pensioners in my area are set at the times of day pretty much no one else wants the pool except them. Paying customers only occassionally swim then too, not because the older people are in the water, but because the 8.30-9.30am slot on a Monday morning suits very few people! Swimming pensioners might cost the local authority a few pence more in water and electric when they use the shower but other than that I can't see where the problem lies.

Sounds to me like it's more of a money-generating excercise than a money-saving excercise. Sadly I think it'll backfire due to the cost to the NHS of increasing the strictly medical treatment of common pensioner conditions like arthiritis, alzheimers and high blood pressure to compensate for the patients decreased activity and thus worse health. Whoever thought this was a good idea had serious tunnel vision when it came to what "cost cutting" actually is!

BLT_2

Errata wrote: »

I'm struggling to understand the logic behind this. If the pool is open and staffed it doesn't matter if there are 60 pensioners enjoying a free swim at the same time or none, the overhead costs are the same.

It matters if you have paid to get in with your children and are crammed in a pool with 60 old aged pensioners with weak bladders filling up the pool.

Still trying to work out why being over 60 gets you a free ride when the pension retirement age is 65.

Katiehound

Just to say- if you are taking your children to the pool they go free ( at the moment)and only you personally have had to pay.

I think the reason over 60s qualify is because women historically retired at 60 and men at 65- but due to equality laws and they have had to issue bus passes etc to men over 60....and of course the pension age is increasing gradually from now on.

Short sighted all round cutting the free swims as both pensioners and children need more exercise . The next thing will be that pools and leisure centres will start to close as they loose oodles of money......

roddydogs

The over 60 free was optional to the councils.....a lot of councils said they couldnt afford it (mine) It was not a universal freebie.

margaretclare

roddydogs wrote: »

The over 60 free was optional to the councils.....a lot of councils said they couldn't afford it (mine) It was not a universal freebie.

Mine didn't do it either, although next door's did. But already stated, the times were not very amenable.

BLT, how do you know that all older people have 'weak bladders'?

Kate78

BLT wrote: »

It matters if you have paid to get in with your children and are crammed in a pool with 60 old aged pensioners with weak bladders filling up the pool.

Oh be off with you, it's more likely to be your kids piddling in the pool!

tanith

BLT wrote: »

It matters if you have paid to get in with your children and are crammed in a pool with 60 old aged pensioners with weak bladders filling up the pool.

Still trying to work out why being over 60 gets you a free ride when the pension retirement age is 65.

Your post is ill-informed and insulting to the majority of pensioners.. as has been said your children are swimming for free anyway, womens pension retirement age is a little over 60 at this present time ,65 for men and I don't think the majority of over 60's have a weak bladder and if you saw the energetic swimming some of the pensioners I swim with you'd be most surprised... they do a hell of lot better than a lot of people..
Free swimming has encouraged lots to excercise more and so keep them healthier so saving the NHS money on physio etc... I hope you remember this post when you are 60 and then you might realise how insulting you were...

Margaretclare we have free swimming anytime of the day here I don't understand why they need to restrict the times?

zygurat789

The central government was funding the scheme by paying lump sums to the local councils, if they allowed free swimming. Some didn't take up the offer because they reasoned they would lose revenue from people who already paid getting in free. I think this subsidy was due to stop in the not to distant future.
So the government make a saving which they can shout about but it is a one-off saving and no good for future years. Such is politics.
The local councils will probably get a little more revenue since a survey suggested 83% of scheme beneficiaries would have paid anyway.