If you weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column in the Jan-Feb 2015 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is:-
FIRSTLY I
wish you a happy and healthy 2015, but make no mistake about it: in the run-up
to the general election on Thursday May 7 this year, we UK pensioners are going
to be a prime target for politicians of most persuasions, and some sectors of
the media too. Over the past five years
of coalition rule, we’ve been threatened with the withdrawal of our bus passes
and our winter fuel allowances, among other benefits. Those threats have
invariably come from high-ranking politicians, some of whom have also accused us
of being cushioned from the austerity measures put in-place by Prime Minister
Cameron’s government. And I predict we’re going to hear a lot more of the same
over the next few months.
A SHAMEFUL
ARTICLE
In fact,
the “let’s bash the pensioners” brigade have been getting-up to their tricks
already, and here’s the proof. I found this shameful article on-line at AOL
Money in early December, and I reproduce it here, word for word:-
“You’ve probably heard
older people bemoaning how ‘everything was better in the old days’ but for
retirees it seems that everything is also better now, especially when it comes
to their financial situation. Most of us are feeling the pinch from Osborne and Company’s austerity
measures. You may be someone on a low income who has seen benefits slashed or
been subject to the particularly nasty bedroom tax, or a signed-up member of
the ‘squeezed middle’, who has been tipped into the higher rate income tax
bracket thanks to government tinkering; you may have even lost your full
entitlement to child benefit. But one group of people who have not suffered are
retirees, who have been fiercely protected from austerity measures by a ring-fencing
of their benefits.
Chancellor George Osborne has saved £2.5 billion with his measures but the plan
to cut the welfare and pensions bill by £19 billion has been thrown off course
by the decision to ‘triple lock’ the state pension, which means it is
guaranteed to rise at the highest of inflation, earnings, or 2.5 per cent.
Coupled with people living longer and it is no surprise there has been a £5
billion increase in spending on the state pension since January 2010. While
working age benefits have been cut by 6 per cent, the cost of pensions has
jumped 11 per cent. Figures by the IFS show total spending on pensioners was
over £15 billion more than total spending on the rest of the population in 2013-14.
The cost of older people isn’t going to slow down either; we are all
living longer. There are ten million people aged 65 and over in the UK and in
20 years’ time that figure will increase by 5.5 million.
It’s not realistic to carry on providing benefits that are as generous for as
long, it is too much of a burden on those of working age. Older people annoyed
about state pension age rises argue they have paid national insurance – which
is widely believed to be your contribution to your state pension – and deserve
to take their pension at 65. In reality NI is used to pay for existing
pensioners, there is no ‘pot of money’ waiting for you in retirement built up
of NI contributions.
Of course we should make sure older people are not living in poverty, but
equally they need to do their bit in these times of austerity and the ‘make do
and mend’ generation will have to employ that sentiment once again.”
Chancellor George Osborne has saved £2.5 billion with his measures but the plan to cut the welfare and pensions bill by £19 billion has been thrown off course by the decision to ‘triple lock’ the state pension, which means it is guaranteed to rise at the highest of inflation, earnings, or 2.5 per cent.
Coupled with people living longer and it is no surprise there has been a £5 billion increase in spending on the state pension since January 2010. While working age benefits have been cut by 6 per cent, the cost of pensions has jumped 11 per cent. Figures by the IFS show total spending on pensioners was over £15 billion more than total spending on the rest of the population in 2013-14. The cost of older people isn’t going to slow down either; we are all living longer. There are ten million people aged 65 and over in the UK and in 20 years’ time that figure will increase by 5.5 million.
It’s not realistic to carry on providing benefits that are as generous for as long, it is too much of a burden on those of working age. Older people annoyed about state pension age rises argue they have paid national insurance – which is widely believed to be your contribution to your state pension – and deserve to take their pension at 65. In reality NI is used to pay for existing pensioners, there is no ‘pot of money’ waiting for you in retirement built up of NI contributions.
Of course we should make sure older people are not living in poverty, but equally they need to do their bit in these times of austerity and the ‘make do and mend’ generation will have to employ that sentiment once again.”
