Many People are losing their Access to Pension Credit.

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023#:~:text=Average weekly income of pensioners ( AHC ) by gender in FYE,This difference is statistically significant.

 A single female pensioner on an income of £259 a week (well above GPC level), and therefore having to pay CT (albeit with 25%

reduction), cost of dental treatment/spectacles/ water would surely really miss the Winter Fuel Allowance?

hugheskevi

xylophone said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/pensioners-incomes-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023#:~:text=Average weekly income of pensioners ( AHC ) by gender in FYE,This difference is statistically significant.

 A single female pensioner on an income of £259 a week (well above GPC level), and therefore having to pay CT (albeit with 25%

reduction), cost of dental treatment/spectacles/ water would surely really miss the Winter Fuel Allowance?

In my borough, she would get Council Tax Support covering almost her entire Council Tax bill. There are some good benefit entitlement calculators that calculate support in each individual area, such as entitledto at this link.

Assuming she receives the full amount of new State Pension she received an increase of almost £200 p/a over and above inflation in April, so that will largely offset the loss of Winter Fuel Payment (albeit some was clawed back through higher income tax, assuming all of her £259 income is taxable).

This page is very helpful in illustrating just how big the cliff edge between receiving Guarantee Credit and not receiving it has become, and it is further exacerbated by private companies and other entities offering discounts to people in receipt of it.

Exodi said:

Well to the dismay of the pensioners who will be encased in ice next winter, I thought the change to the Winter Fuel Payment was long overdue. Every year on this very forum we see forumites smugly cracking jokes about which bottles they will be adding to their collections this year, or how they invested the money.

Thankfully the Christmas Bonus escaped the cull, so at least pensioners won't have to cancel Christmas.

sgx2000

The biggest question has been missed...

Why is the UK (6th richest country in the world, by gdp)  soo far down the global pension table???

MK62

sgx2000 said:

The biggest question has been missed...

Why is the UK (6th richest country in the world, by gdp)  soo far down the global pension table???

......but on a GDP per capita basis, adjusted for purchasing power parity, the UK only just squeezes into the top 40.

You need to compare on a per capita basis, as countries like Norway have a lower GDP than the UK, but also a much smaller population, and so a higher GDP per capita.

You also need to adjust for purchasing power, as, for example, £1 will go a lot further in some countries than in the UK (eg India), and will go a lot further in the UK than in some other countries (eg Norway).

Silvertabby

sgx2000 said:

The biggest question has been missed...

Why is the UK (6th richest country in the world, by gdp)  soo far down the global pension table???

Strictly speaking, we're not.

If you are comparing the UK State pension with European pensions then you are comparing apples with oranges.  Euro pensions are typically hybrid schemes, part State and part private, with both employers and employees paying in way more than we do in just NI.  And membership of the private element of the scheme is compulsary, unlike the UK.

A more accurate comparison would be a Euro pension with the UK state pension PLUS all the occupational/ private pensions the UK pensioner paid into/could have paid into/should have paid into.

xylophone

Assuming she receives the full amount of new State Pension she received an increase of almost £200 p/a over and above inflation in April, so that will largely offset the loss of Winter Fuel Payment (albeit some was clawed back through higher income tax, assuming all of her £259 income is taxable).

A big assumption - surely most pensioners will still be on the old system?

And it seems ridiculous that a person "earning" under £15,000 a year should be paying tax at all.

https://ifs.org.uk/articles/new-triple-locked-personal-allowance-pensioners

But  there is always that munificent tax free Christmas bonus to warm the cockles of pensioners' hearts.......

hugheskevi

xylophone said:

Assuming she receives the full amount of new State Pension she received an increase of almost £200 p/a over and above inflation in April, so that will largely offset the loss of Winter Fuel Payment (albeit some was clawed back through higher income tax, assuming all of her £259 income is taxable).

A big assumption - surely most pensioners will still be on the old system?

And it seems ridiculous that a person "earning" under £15,000 a year should be paying tax at all.

https://ifs.org.uk/articles/new-triple-locked-personal-allowance-pensioners

But  there is always that munificent tax free Christmas bonus to warm the cockles of pensioners' hearts.......:)

By expenditure, about 2/3rds is old State pension and 1/3 new State Pension. By 2029/30 it should be 50/50. For those in receipt of old State Pension they got an increase of £150 p/a over and above inflation in April 2024.

Our Personal Allowance is high by international standards.

I think the Christmas Bonus is sufficiently generous that pensioners should have no fear of turning the heat up on Christmas Day, the bonus should cover the additional gas cost.

GibbsRule_No3.

I wonder how much it would cost if they did give a higher PA to State Pensioners? 

Ganga

GibbsRule_No3. said:

I wonder how much it would cost if they did give a higher PA to State Pensioners? 

I do not need a Personal Assistant thank you ,i have a wife who does it for me 

SouthCoastBoy

sgx2000 said:

The biggest question has been missed...

Why is the UK (6th richest country in the world, by gdp)  soo far down the global pension table???

Imo we are not a particularly wealthy country, as others have said you need to look at the per capita value. I can only see us slipping down the gdp per capita table, unfortunately we run a deficit on a yearly basis, personally I see the future as being quite bleak, especially if we try and sustain benefit levels.