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[flyer 0712]

the debate tonight on bbc 2  was about retired peoples pensions and benefits i am 68 and the huge amount of cash it takes to keep the system going and how can we as a country save money....Are all politicians mad....crazy...thick....or all of those.......when i was 60 years of age and working self employed selling tools and garage equipment and not doing too badly at it and i earnt a reasonable living out of it.....Along they came and gave me £200 winter fuel allowance to help with the heating.. ...hang on  i and thousands of others of the same age are still earning a living.......i did not need it.....why not pay it when you retire at 65...so there is a small fortune saved there.....and also if you retire to live in warmer climates,,,,ie...spain they still pay it to you.....for god sake why..it is madness......the goverment say that they cant devise a system to take it back so it is easier to let them have it.....however if you are in receipt of mobility allowance because you are disabled if you go to spain to retire..you loose it because they stop it.....so if the system works for one benefit why cant it work for both.....i hate to think of the money they would save if they sorted just those two things out...and thats without all the rich dodging the tax system by putting money abroad....we just cant win 

[albitz]

The whole system needs scrapping and starting again from scratch imo,its a national disgrace.

[Kevin Wood]

The whole system needs scrapping and starting again from scratch imo,its a national disgrace.

.. along with the tax system, NHS, the courts, CPS, government, banking sector.

If the country were a car it'd have been crushed decades ago.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

The benefits system should be based on NEED not age.

My father-in-law is eighty years of age and on average takes between twelve and fifteen holidays each year. He is taking four holidays to Spain this year alone. 

He lives off two large company pensions, plus his state pension.........he also receives free prescriptions.....free eye tests....free winter fuel payments and a free travel pass. He thinks entirely of himself.

It is a crazy system that pays money to already extremely well off people simply because they have reached a certain age.


 

[albitz]

I completely agree. The welfare state should be a safety net for those who are in genuine hardship. The thing is,if we  are to move to a system where benifits are paid according to peoples needs,it would only be possible if they were means tested.
Means testing is seen as an outrageous concept in this country, for reasons I have never been able to understand.

[flyer 0712]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

[albitz]

I agree up to a point,but I dont believe that people who are financially comfortable should have their heating bills,travel,optician bills etc. paid for by the taxpayer.We really need to get back to a wlfare state which is a fallback for people who have fallen into genuine hardship through no fault of their own.The current situation has been arrived at by politicians bribing people to vote for them by taking half of their hard earned wealth from them and then redistributing it in whichever fashion they feel will increase their chances of election.
Personally I dont believe there should be any money involved. Food vouchers,clothes vouchers,vouchers for a reasonable amount of gas/electric/rent etc.
Then those of us who work would be able to retain the biggest part of our earnings rather than the approx. 50% (if were lucky) we are allowed to keep currently.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

My Father-in-law has an annual income of roughly £70,000, and no mortgage to pay.......so what sort of insanity is it that also pays for his prescriptions, winter fuel allowance, travel pass, eye tests etc..etc. These are BENEFITS that are totally uneccessary and should be paid to people who actually NEED them (old, young, or middle aged)



 

[bigboykarl]

free bus passes and winter fuel allowance cost this country £3 billion a year..quite a saving if 50% is wasted

[geoffr70]

We'd save loads more money if we just exterminated everyone on benefits surely? Shares in fosters lager and greggs would drop though.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

My Father-in-law has an annual income of roughly £70,000, and no mortgage to pay.......so what sort of insanity is it that also pays for his prescriptions, winter fuel allowance, travel pass, eye tests etc..etc. These are BENEFITS that are totally unnecessary and should be paid to people who actually NEED them (old, young, or middle aged)

[cleggy]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

ABSOLUTELY, he contibuted and deserves a comfortable life in his twilight years

It is the bloody scroungers, immigrants, assylum seekers that pay nowt and expect a luxury lifestyle... PAY NOW'T IN GET NOW'T OUT..

Welfare for the needy, not for the baby incubators

There are eight 3 bed houses in our Crescent, one is rented out to a 30 years old woman of mixed race she has four young kids by 3 different blokes the youngest coming up to 3 and she is up the duff again!!! WHY..... another £100 + to stay at home and live off benefits. You can bet your bottom dollar she will find someone to fill her crack when this one reaches 3 so she doesn't have to accept free child care to work.
The rest of us are either retired or in gainful employement and she wears the latest designer cloths, top of the range electical goods are delivered to her house. Her father is black and a social worker!!! 'bout sums it up. IT IS WRONG

SWMBO is having to working until 63 to get her pension to support these scounging arse wipes

I think the reason that bus passes( don't get mine for 2 more years they put it up from 60), fuel allowance, prescription etc are an all encompassing with age is that it would cost more to administer is it should be means tested than paid out in first place.   

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

ABSOLUTELY, he contibuted and deserves a comfortable life in his twilight years

It is the bloody scroungers, immigrants, assylum seekers that pay nowt and expect a luxury lifestyle... PAY NOW'T IN GET NOW'T OUT..

Welfare for the needy, not for the baby incubators

There are eight 3 bed houses in our Crescent, one is rented out to a 30 years old woman of mixed race she has four young kids by 3 different blokes the youngest coming up to 3 and she is up the duff again!!! WHY..... another £100 + to stay at home and live off benefits. You can bet your bottom dollar she will find someone to fill her crack when this one reaches 3 so she doesn't have to accept free child care to work.
The rest of us are either retired or in gainful employement and she wears the latest designer cloths, top of the range electical goods are delivered to her house. Her father is black and a social worker!!! 'bout sums it up. IT IS WRONG

SWMBO is having to working until 63 to get her pension to support these scounging arse wipes

I think the reason that bus passes( don't get mine for 2 more years they put it up from 60), fuel allowance, prescription etc are an all encompassing with age is that it would cost more to administer is it should be means tested than paid out in first place.   

And with two company pensions and a state pension,  he gets it. No need for added benefits. The money from these could be used far more efficiently elsewhere.

I forgot to mention that everyone over 75 gets a free T.V licence, too. Regardless of how wealthy they are. Perhaps old Brucie is short of a few bob.

[Varche]

the debate tonight on bbc 2  was about retired peoples pensions and benefits i am 68 and the huge amount of cash it takes to keep the system going and how can we as a country save money....Are all politicians mad....crazy...thick....or all of those.......when i was 60 years of age and working self employed selling tools and garage equipment and not doing too badly at it and i earnt a reasonable living out of it.....Along they came and gave me £200 winter fuel allowance to help with the heating.. ...hang on  i and thousands of others of the same age are still earning a living.......i did not need it.....why not pay it when you retire at 65...so there is a small fortune saved there.....and also if you retire to live in warmer climates,,,,ie...spain they still pay it to you.....for god sake why..it is madness......the goverment say that they cant devise a system to take it back so it is easier to let them have it.....however if you are in receipt of mobility allowance because you are disabled if you go to spain to retire..you loose it because they stop it.....so if the system works for one benefit why cant it work for both.....i hate to think of the money they would save if they sorted just those two things out...and thats without all the rich dodging the tax system by putting money abroad....we just cant win 

This is an oft trotted out common misconception. Spain is a cold country in winter. The houses are not well designed in most cases. i.e. they don't have central heating, draught proofing , double glazing. Where I live in southern Spain in the eight years I have been here all winters have been cold and once we had a long cold spell with the temp getting down to minus 14 deg C and the other was minus 10 deg C. I remember the Midlands being a warm place in winter in comparison. I can well understand how pensioners who have retired here would need the £200 to help keep warm with fuel prices being more than in the UK.. And why not? They have paid tax throughout their lives. It shouldn't make a jot of difference where people choose to retire to. I hope to still be here when I retire and it would be nice if I qualified for the £200. By then I will either be dead or the rules will have changed ( state pensionb at age 100 etc)

I thought IDS was radically reforming the welfare system? He could do worse than use parts of the Spanish system. i.e. You get bugger all and your family is expected to look after you. (that also reduces the number of unmarried single mothers of children with unknown fathers...........)

[jonnycool]

your father in law is 80 years of age with two company pensions and a state pension.....the best of luck to him....what you are forgetting  is that he worked all his life and paid into a system that he  knew would and should support him so in my books he deserves all that he worked and saved for......fair play to him.....we did not pay into a system for it to be misused by all the lazy g..ts that will not get off of their backsides and get a job...these people think that this country owes them a living..It does not...it has a duty to give those that work for it a fair system that rewards working not shirking.

My Father-in-law has an annual income of roughly £70,000, and no mortgage to pay.......so what sort of insanity is it that also pays for his prescriptions, winter fuel allowance, travel pass, eye tests etc..etc. These are BENEFITS that are totally uneccessary and should be paid to people who actually NEED them (old, young, or middle aged)

I agree Opti, your father-in-law probably sees his benefits as 'pocket money' and is therefore wasted on him IMHO. It's not as if this country's got money to give away willy nilly as it is at the moment