Restoration of the age related allowance

zygurat789

mjm3346 wrote: »

Curses, should have put a bet on it.



https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/37275104#Comment_37275104

Either you are Osborne in diguise or YOU gave him the idea. Either way I would keep a low profile if I were you.
Especially as he had said last year he would do exactly the opposite.

hugheskevi

Hugheskevi, good to summarise and get this thread back on topic.
However you had missed:
(note: I'm not commenting on every point to avoid appearance of selective quoting - if no comment, then I agree with point made)

6. the fact that pensioners are already helping out the economy through higher state pension retirement age (often the same people who will now be affected by the so called 'granny tax'),

The higher SPA doesn't start to affect anyone until 2016, and existing pensioners are unaffected by the change, so I'd argue that is not help from pensioners, but help from today's working age folk.

7. moving from RPI to CPI (generally a lot lower)

In general, it is only public service pensioners who lose out from this - most private sector Defined Benefit schemes have RPI hard-wired into the scheme rules and hence have not changed.

So most of the burden fails on future pensioners (ie, today's workers), as all public sector schemes and most private pension schemes now revalue pensions to retirement by CPI rather than RPI (with public sector continuing to index pensions in payment by CPI, and private sector indexing in general by RPI).

9 social needs of the community (this depends upon your politics, I guess) whereby some sections should have greater support to support their greater need and also social conscience to support (rather than penalise) those who the younger generation now ought to thank.

Fair enough point.

But with mass unemployment after several years of low or no growth, two-thirds of the Dept. for Work and Pensions budget is spent on pensioner benefits, up from about half a decade or so ago.

How much should be spent on pensioners, how much on disabled, how much on children? Pensioners are far from being the only vulnerable group in society.

10. lack of time for those whom the change affects to make alternative arrangements, save more or possibly find work to compensate.

Valid argument, and in general I agree.

On the other hand, this doesn't affect the poorest pensioners, and is a marginal change (unlike the RPI-CPI change, which has a big impact on those affected). Given the entire economy is smaller, I don't think it unreasonable to say everyone should consume a bit less, rather than protecting some to the detriment of greater suffering of other groups - those with a mortgage to pay who lose their jobs equally have little time to make adjustments - one of those things where I don't think there are easy answers.

12 Cost of living for people getting more elderly is substantially higher than average and there are few if any welfare benefits for those who exceed only a fraction of the national average wage unlike those in work.

The cost of living is highest for those early in retirement who are still very active, and the oldest, who have greater need of care. Nearly £11bn is spent on disability benefits for pensioners on top of State Pension and Pension Credit - £11bn is more than the entire spend on Employment and Support Allowance for context.

harz99

harz99 wrote: »

Very few things are ever a "complete and utter waste of time", and as someone said "its not over until the fat lady sings".

So please sign the e-petition at

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

thanks.

61018 now signed.

harz99

harz99 wrote: »

Very few things are ever a "complete and utter waste of time", and as someone said "its not over until the fat lady sings".

So please sign the e-petition at

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

thanks.

61266 now signed.

srcandas

harz99 wrote: »

61266 now signed.

So it is fizzling out and might in 6 months or so get close to 75000.

It grew by 3000/day end of March, 1000/day by 9th April and now 600 a day (12th April).

Is that a good result I wonder?

The petition for "Return VAT on Air Ambulance fuel payments." has over twice as many votes and while it has been running for a few weeks longer it is a fairly obscure topic which most people would never be impacted by. I would have thought that many may feel that Charities could argue their case directly with MPs, especially those representing areas where the air ambulance is most active, and just offer the number of donors they have to support their argument. But nonetheless 140000+ entries is something.

Of course being a minority, even a minority among those directly impacted, doesn't mean supporters should give up if they feel strongly about it.

But I think this avenue has demonstrated the difficult uphill climb of persuading others.

But an interesting test of democracy :beer:

zygurat789

srcandas wrote: »

But an interesting test of democracy :beer:

Local elections next month, if you can't bring yourself to vote for the other parties, spoiling your ballot paper is an other option

srcandas

zygurat789 wrote: »

Local elections next month, if you can't bring yourself to vote for the other parties, spoiling your ballot paper is an other option

Getting off topic a bit now but remember if you feel strongly you can get 20* like minded people (if you can't do that then I'd rethink you argument ) stand for election and you will have access to great platforms (e.g. press, local radio, ...). A real chance to make a difference.

* the 20 people just share the costs so say £250 per person and think what you might achieve :j

Not sure what message spoiling your ballot paper sends. Many ballot papers are spoiled by people who cannot follow simple instructions

You may as well vote Raving Looney - and I've done that before :rotfl:

harz99

harz99 wrote: »

Very few things are ever a "complete and utter waste of time", and as someone said "its not over until the fat lady sings".

So please sign the e-petition at

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31778

thanks.

61689 now signed.

margaretclare

srcandas wrote: »

Getting off topic a bit now but remember if you feel strongly you can get 20* like minded people (if you can't do that then I'd rethink you argument ) stand for election and you will have access to great platforms (e.g. press, local radio, ...). A real chance to make a difference.

* the 20 people just share the costs so say £250 per person and think what you might achieve :j

Not sure what message spoiling your ballot paper sends. Many ballot papers are spoiled by people who cannot follow simple instructions

You may as well vote Raving Looney - and I've done that before :rotfl:

That applies to parliamentary elections. A great place to start, cut your teeth so to speak, is in the council elections May 2nd. Too late for this year, though. Many aspiring politicians start that way.

atush

I won't be signing.

One larger personal allowance for all. It is normal and expected in most western countries.

I also expect winter fuel allowance to be restricted to those who need it only.