Gov Petition - Require all state pensions to be paid monthly

Silvertabby

Not the pension, and my mum wasn't particularly elderly, but switching her wages from weekly (bank) to calendar monthly (bank) caused considerable drama and upset.

Dad paid the utilities etc, and she paid for groceries, so tallying up DDs wasn't a problem, but....

Seems she decided the way round it would be to divide her monthly amount by 4, then draw her 'wages' on Friday in order to pay for the week's grocery bills. You can see where this is going.... This worked for a couple of months, until the first 5 Friday month. And no 'wages'. I was home on leave at the time, and so bore the brunt of her panic - she'd been robbed, she'd worked all week for no pay, etc. Even telling her that her salary would go in the following Monday didn't help, because that was no good when she needed the money to pay for the Saturday shop.

I bought the groceries, and explained how to adjust her cash withdrawals so her money would last all month, but she still wasn't happy because she could only see that the reduced withdrawals meant her salary had been reduced.

Changing older people from weekly to calendar monthly could result in the same problems.

bill6262

Leave it as it is

sgx2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057828#Comment_82057828

Yes, it wouldn't suit everyone.

But, it would be nice to have the option so that everyone could choose the system that is best for them…

Then everyone would be happy.

westv

I really don't see any benefit in changing it. Bills come monthly? And??

doodling

Hi,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058141#Comment_82058141

I wouldn't be happy because it would mean that the government has spent (wasted) a whole load of money on something unnecessary rather than spending it on something useful. That in turn may mean that I or my loved ones won't get the government services they hoped for or will have paid more tax than they needed to.

Nothing is free in this world - you are asking to spend other people's money to make a change and to do that you should really be able to explain why what you want is more important than what they might want.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82057828#Comment_82057828

What did she say about decimalisation? I remember lots of older people complaining about daylight robbery back then. The conversion charts which showed two different amounts of old pennies turning into the same amount of new pence didn't help.

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058270#Comment_82058270

Oh, my - that's brought back some memories! My mum was only in her early 40s, but that was a huge drama as well. She had worked in a supermarket for many years, and could add up £s Ss and ds faster than many people could input the figures into an adding machine. But she really struggled with the decimal system. Dad would give her lists of decimal £s and Ps to add up, but she would just cry and demand a list of 'proper money' so she could show him how much easier and faster it was to add that up. Took her ages to come to grips with decimal and, over 20 years later, she was still blaming decimal for food costs inflation ("Bread used to be just 8d in proper money - now look at the cost of it")

I had a paper round in 1971, and my Friday evening duties included collecting the week's paper bills from those who would struggle to get to the shop (can you imagine that happening now!). At least half of the pensioners I collected money from were adamant that as soon as the next Government got into power they would change back to 'proper money'.

DRS1

Yes back in those days working in a shop you would tot things up in your head. For years afterwards when I went shopping I would do that and have the right money ready. Now with credit cards and escaping grey cells I don't bother (probably couldn't do it).

LHW99

Pedant alert:

….could add up £s Ss and ds faster than many people…. 😘

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82058320#Comment_82058320

Ha ha - I stand corrected. But 'denarius' was a bit before my time !