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Pensioner Incomes 'outstrip Those Of Working Families'

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mikey4444 | 08:56 Mon 13th Feb 2017 | News
34 Answers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38948369

David Willets, sometimes called Two-brains Willets because he is so brainy apparently, was interviewed by Humphrys this morning. He was making a case for ending the triple lock pension guarantee.

This was introduced by the coalition government, in 2010, as a bribe to get us all to vote Tory. But the same Tories are now actively discussing doing away with it !

Shouldn't we be improving incomes for working families, rather than downgrading the incomes of retired people ?

A quote from the above link :::

"Pensioner households are now £20 a week better off than working age households, but were £70 a week worse off in 2001"
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But it's not about retired people, it's saying that pensioners who still work are better off than working age people. And I say, good for them.
Just listened to it on BBC. I think I heard 'own their own homes' at least 3 times. So it's not so much about improving income for working families but sorting out the unaffordable housing situation.
>Shouldn't we be improving incomes for working families, rather than downgrading the incomes of retired people ?

Yes, it would be nice but both have to be paid for. Working people are paying for the extra pension resulting from the triple lock.
agree with ummmm- I think building more housing is a bigger priority
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Zacs....some pensioners still continue to work of course.

I met a lady last Friday, who is still working in the Civil Service at the age of 73. She doesn't really want to, but her husband is very ill, and its the only way that they can afford to keep the heating on in the winter, something he needs.

But this news is essentially about the average pensioner, being better off than the average working family, and my point is that some of that situation is due to very low wages for millions of ordinary working people.
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Yes, of course we need more housing....I have been banging about the need for more affordable housing for years. But the Tories will be biting off more than they chew, if they tinker with pensioner incomes.
most pensioners are also mortgage free which helps..I was fortunately able to buy without a mortgage but would hate that responsibility now as there is no job security these days
A lot is down to the crippling rents and mortgage repayments.
I would hate to be trying to get on property ladder now !
The housing shortage is caused by all the immigrants coming in. Get rid of the ones that shouldn't be here...end of problem!
Mikey 'But this news is essentially about the average pensioner, being better off than the average working family'. I'm afraid it's not. It's about working pension age people being better off than working people below retirement age. The article states: 'Pensioners are also now more likely than their predecessors to still be in work, own a home and have access to generous private pensions, it adds.'
And: 'The main driver of pensioner income growth has been the arrival of successive new waves of pensioners, who are more likely to work'

It is these pension age workers which are tipping the balance, not that (as I suspected you thought) pensions are on the rise, hence your suggestion to downgrade their pensions.
I'd be quite happy to loose the triple lock.
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Zacs....its not me that is suggesting downgrading pensions. Willets made a very strong case for losing the triple lock, and he is by no means the only Tory to do so.

I meet many pensioners in my job, and while some of them are more comfortable than they used to be, lots aren't. Not all of those pensioners have final-salary pensions coming in, in addition to the OAP, and these are the ones that I am concerned about.

The OAP is the only income for many these days, and it needs to be protected.
Often wondered , do people who have never worked in their lives , and always lived on benefits, taking and never contributing! , get a pension when they reach retiring age???
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Gulliver....yes, I think they do !
Yes, they do, more's the pity.
It's just a change in the wording of their benefits.
Why do we need more housing?

I know of entire streets where the houses are boarded up. Do those up instead!

What about on the outskirts of towns and cities where we invariably have old victorian dilapidated factories and warehouses? Do those up as funky, town apartments? Why don't we utilise what we already have instead of building more- lets stop slapping concrete on our rapidly decreasing green areas!
Agree completely ummmm. Thousands of perfectly good houses were / are being bulldozed on the outskirts of Liverpool.

Getting back to the OP, if pensioners who are still earning are better off then the answer appears to be staring the les well off ones in the face but Mikey with his socialite tendencies presumably thinks that the rest of us should pay more taxes to keep them.
Sorry, Boo, not Ummmm!

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