Pension credit cut sneaked in.

margaretclare

So they'll be paying additional taxes in the form of fuel duty and road tax - whilst the pensioner will be in receipt of a free bus pass (coming out of council tax funding)

Don't assume this. I have no free bus pass for the simple reason I wouldn't use one. DH has one, I don't know why, because he never uses it either.

margaretclare

My husband and sister both retire in May next year, yet my sister will receive £13,273 and my husband only £5,986.68 due to my sister being a widow and hubby married and I'm not due to retire for another couple of year after him. I am his full time carer, so I will have to claim universal credit now rather than us being able to live of his pension.

You say your husband is due to retire, and you retire in 2 years' time? That presupposes you're both working now. But you are your husband's full-time carer so this sounds as if he's NOT working, and neither are you? How then can you talk about 'retiring'?


Leave your sister on one side for a moment. She may have earned a pension from previous employment, as I did.



Talking about both living off his pension smacks of the old days when a woman expected to live off a man - when she married him he became her meal-ticket for life. I thought that nowadays people expected to have their own individual income.


DH and I have been retired for many years, married but each have our own retirement income, some of which comes in the form of annuities from previous careers. And we're still taxpayers, will be for however long we manage to live. I never expected to live off him, nor does he expect to live off me.

konark

Returning to topic...


I don't understand this nonsense at all.


UC is meant to be a benefit ' for people over 18 but under State Pension age who are on a low income or out of work' (Govt's words not mine) They are now saying that pensioners will be on it . Surely they qualify for a state pension by virtue of their NI contributions and pensions are not part of UC.



This will cause mayhem and will be politically unpopular (although no more than the rest of UC). It will herald a return to pensioner poverty as many people's income will be halved overnight. People will even start getting divorced from their younger spouses just to make ends meet.

Pollycat

konark wrote: »

Returning to topic...


I don't understand this nonsense at all.


UC is meant to be a benefit ' for people over 18 but under State Pension age who are on a low income or out of work' (Govt's words not mine) They are now saying that pensioners will be on it . Surely they qualify for a state pension by virtue of their NI contributions and pensions are not part of UC.



This will cause mayhem and will be politically unpopular (although no more than the rest of UC). It will herald a return to pensioner poverty as many people's income will be halved overnight. People will even start getting divorced from their younger spouses just to make ends meet.

People will still get their state state pension at the age they were entitled to it before this change.
Previously - if the couple's income was below a certain amount, they could claim Pension Credit to top up their income.

This change means that the person who is of state pension age but has a partner who is not of state pension age will not be able to claim pension credit but will have to claim Universal Credit until both people reach state pension age.
Nothing about the state pension has changed.

If you want to read more, see the MSE article in the link in post #7.

calcotti

Pollycat wrote: »

This change means that the person who is of state pension age but has a partner who is not of state pension age will not be able to claim pension credit but will have to claim Universal Credit until both people reach state pension age.
Nothing about the state pension has changed.

However for a couple without housing costs or extra elements for childcare, LCWRA etc there will be no UC entitlement if the pensioner gets a state pension of more than £115/week. The full new state pension rate is £164.35/week and the full old state pension is £125.95/week.

I find it extraordinary that this announcement is causing so much outrage now. This was simply an implementation order, the legislation for this change was passed in 2012 and should have been challenged back then.

margaretclare

calcotti wrote: »

However for a couple without housing costs or extra elements for childcare, LCWRA etc there will be no UC entitlement if the pensioner gets a state pension of more than £115/week. The full new state pension rate is £164.35/week and the full old state pension is £125.95/week.

I find it extraordinary that this announcement is causing so much outrage now. This was simply an implementation order, the legislation for this change was passed in 2012 and should have been challenged back then.

It was a different government in 2012 - 6 or 7 years ago! This was at the time of the Cameron/Clegg coalition, with Osborne as Chancellor. I agree, any objections or challenges should have been raised at the time.

calcotti

margaretclare wrote: »

It was a different government in 2012 - 6 or 7 years ago! This was at the time of the Cameron/Clegg coalition, with Osborne as Chancellor. I agree, any objections or challenges should have been raised at the time.

So much of what is wrong with the current benefits system is the result of Osborne/Cameron.

At the time there was huge anger at cuts to Tax Credits which were reversed, everybody said what a great victory and totally ignored that the cuts to UC were still in place. Less people were impacted at the time but Osborne knew that over time Tax Credits were being abolished anyway so his UC cuts were more important (to him).

poppy10_2

OhWow wrote: »

Council Tax never has been fair - a single elderly pensioner living on fixed income pays 75% of the CT band, whereas their younger neighbours could have 2 parents and their two adult children working, but they only pay 25% each of their CT band. We need a fairer system than that.

OhWow wrote: »

A Council Tax for every single adult, is a much fairer system.

Ooft. Can't believe you're advocating for a poll tax :eek:

konark

margaretclare wrote: »

It was a different government in 2012 - 6 or 7 years ago! This was at the time of the Cameron/Clegg coalition, with Osborne as Chancellor. I agree, any objections or challenges should have been raised at the time.

Seeing as this was announced on the same day as the Brexit vote, maybe back in 2012 they also chose 'a good day to bury bad news',