Autumn Statement

FTBFun

Surprised no-one has started a thread about this yet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15937446

I doubt the 1% pay rise freeze will go down too well.

wotsthat

FTBFun wrote: »

I doubt the 1% pay rise freeze will go down too well.

No worries if you're on benefits though - there's a 5.2% increase.

Nice 'work' if you can get it.

purch

State retirement age rise to 67 brought forward to 2026. :eek:

I was born in 1960 :mad:

chucknorris

FTBFun wrote: »

Surprised no-one has started a thread about this yet:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15937446

I doubt the 1% pay rise freeze will go down too well.

Not great news about the 1% but then I wasn't expecting great news. Glad to hear nothing about abolishing the 40% tax relief on pensions (probably just scaremongering last week).

FTBFun

wotsthat wrote: »

No worries if you're on benefits though - there's a 5.2% increase.

Nice 'work' if you can get it.

I find that one a little bizarre. Same increase in the state pension also.

Jennifer_Jane

FTBFun wrote: »

I find that one a little bizarre. Same increase in the state pension also.

Isn't it a statutory thing, though, so can't be changed without going through Parliament?

Itismehonest

wotsthat wrote: »

No worries if you're on benefits though - there's a 5.2% increase.

Nice 'work' if you can get it.

A wee bit unfair.
Many pensioners grafted long & hard & will appreciate whatever little extra they get. They aren't all rolling in it.
As they normally have no mortgage but may have savings the low interest rates have adversely affected them enormously. Their expenses are on things like heating & food which have increased enormously in price.
I don't begrudge them a rise in the pension.

Jennifer_Jane

purch wrote: »

State retirement age rise to 67 brought forward to 2026. :eek:

I was born in 1960 :mad:

Yes, purch, that's not good, and you only have 14 years to save extra to enable you to make up the 2-year difference. But, I do understand how you and others are going to be worse off trying to 'make up' the difference yourselves.

wotsthat

Itismehonest wrote: »

A wee bit unfair.
Many pensioners grafted long & hard & will appreciate whatever little extra they get. They aren't all rolling in it.
As they normally have no mortgage but may have savings the low interest rates have adversely affected them enormously. Their expenses are on things like heating & food which have increased enormously in price.
I don't begrudge them a rise in the pension.

I'd let pensioners have the 5.2% increase. Maybe limit it to those paying standard rate tax.

I'd freeze other benefits though or at least limit the increase. If someone is 25 years old they clearly have more opportunity to work their way out of a cut in benefits.

Jennifer_Jane

Itismehonest wrote: »

A wee bit unfair.
Many pensioners grafted long & hard & will appreciate whatever little extra they get. They aren't all rolling in it.
As they normally have no mortgage but may have savings the low interest rates have adversely affected them enormously. Their expenses are on things like heating & food which have increased enormously in price.
I don't begrudge them a rise in the pension.

It's an extra £3.69 a week for me. Very grateful (providing they increase the bits and pieces that go with the BSP - for instance, the Deferred Pension wasn't increased in recent times, despite assurances from the DWP that it would be treated exactly like the actual State Pension.)

oldvicar

wotsthat wrote: »

Anyone working in the public sector looking forward to a 1% pay rise after a two year freeze must be starting to get a bit of a complex when they see benefits will rise by 5.2%.

Any one working in the public sector who is about over age 50 and has the opportunity to retire early really ought to think about doing so quickly.

Take your pension now chaps, and in 4 or 5 years it will be worth maybe 20% more, due to inflation increases.

Leave it a while and a final salary pension won't have gone up much if the salary hasn't increased.