I think you need to see an optician Bruce as you have it seems a reading problem with my post
I don’t think so, didn’t I quote it? If you work for 60 years and retirement age is 65 then you must have started work at 5yo, isn’t that so?
Well, call me stupid, asinine, ethically and imaginatively, “challenged”, whatever but I agree with it
Not with the £125 a week part, I suspect that’s a wind up
But taking off the triple lock, yes
Quite a few people getting state pension are reasonably comfortable, own their homes, have savings and other pensions
And a minority are fairly wealthy
While the young people paying taxes to fund the state pensions are struggling and having to work all the hours god sends, just to get by.
Many who are in work will still go hungry and be afraid to turn the heat on this year, let alone save for a deposit on their own home. The plight of the working poor is desperate
Of course I think the poorest pensioners should be protected. But I’d like that done by raising the Pension Credit threshold rather than doling out extras to those who are comfortable or wealthy
At the moment, if your income is less than £182.60 a week and you have savings of under £10k you are entitled to a weekly Pension Credit top up
And I think this is a much better way of targeting money at the poorest than giving it to everyone
If they increased the thresholds and used the money raised by removing the triple lock, then help would reach those who really need it
Yes, we have paid in all our lives. But it was never anticipated we’d live longer and more and more very expensive NHS care would be available to keep us going
I suspect if most of us totted up the cost of various NHS operations and care we’ve received over the years, it’s cost more than we’ve paid in for NI, let alone adding in the cost of state pension for more years than anticipated
We have an age top heavy population and there are hard times ahead for everyone, including the young whose work is paying our pensions
Why should they have to pay taxes to fork out for pensioners living a much more comfortable lifestyle than they’ll ever be able to afford themselves?
No pensioners would starve or freeze as long as pension credit went up and I’m not suggesting for one moment that we should all die sooner to save ‘em money
But I do think when times are this hard, everyone has a responsibility to share the burden
I do understand that on a forum for older people that opinion will make me as popular as a fart in a spacesuit, but fair is fair 
🧑🚀:scream:
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Actually, @Maree, I am a pensioner who would lose out if the triple lock was scrapped but I agree with you about the unfairness of maintaining the triple lock on pensions whilst most workers have to make do with pay rises below the inflation rate % / cost of living increase.
(The suggestion to reduce pensions to £125 is ludicrous, though)
I think I posted about this on another thread about the triple lock and suggested it may be fairer to everybody to have pension rises in line with average wage growth, but the means tested Pension Credit eligibility threshold amount could be increased in line with the % Cost of Living / Inflation increases.
That would target the pensioners who need it most to receive the full cost of living increases.
I can’t see the current Government doing it because they have a large voter base amongst the pensioners who would lose the most changing it to that system.
On the other side of the coin, pensioners with a private pension will tell you that many of our private pensions are losing value because they are not rising in line with inflation, either. Even Index-linked private pensions are often capped at a maximum figure - mine is capped at 5%, even though we have to pay out 10% or more in costs in the current inflationary economy.
Inflation is also taking a toll on the value of Savings - interest rates will never rise as fast or as high as the galloping inflation rates we are seeing now, so pensioners who are relying on Savings and interest to supplement their state pension will find their financial position eroding year on year if their state pension is not increased in line with inflation and if their Savings total just above the threshold for a mean-tested top up of Pension Credit, they will lose out even more.
It’s a tricky balance to make sure it’s fair for everyone.
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I think it’s only fair to bring it in line with other countries:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn00290/
A comparison of state pension alone shows the UK providing a lower level of pension than most other advanced economies relative to average earnings, however, the relative position of pensioners converges if income from all sources is considered. According to an OECD analysis published in 2021, the UK has an overall net replacement rate of 58.1% from mandatory pensions for an average earner, below the OECD average of 69.1%.
The UK devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to state pensions and pensioner benefits than most other advanced economies. Income from occupational and personal pensions is a relatively important source of pensioner income in the UK, in contrast to many other countries where state provision (financed either through social insurance contributions or general taxation) is dominant.
Couldn’t agree more!..
Go back and read it properly, I altered it days ago.
Seems (some) of the younger generations (the ones) who are responsible for this, are not happy with us getting the pensions we all paid in to and worked for.
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Takes a lot to make my blood boil…and it certainly wouldn’t boil over this, …as if they could stop us getting our pensions…storm in a little teacup comes to mind.
My SIL was furious with her 2 adult daughters who kept on and on about how easy our generation had it. She very nearly fell out with them over it. Myself and my SIL had no family help or handouts from anybody (unlike today) we scrimped and saved to buy our houses and at one time the interest rate was 16 or 17%. There were no free nursery places, no free school meals, no cheap uniforms and we had to pay for everything.
They still insisted they had it harder than us. She pointed out that she had given them both £30,000 each to get on the property ladder which they had conveniently forgotten about.
Sadly she has now passed away and they have had £50,000 each which she left to them.