Todays Budget

[Chrisjay]

Any comments on today's budget?

I was disappointed at the lack of mention of pensioners struggling it was all about families.

The proposed £140 pension payment will only be for new pensioners and will take 'years' to be brought in.

[barnell]

I think pensioners have again become the whipping boy and scapegoat of this and previous governments. The government does not hesitate to shell out (forgive the pun) enormous sums of money (estimated to be in the region of £15 million pounds a  day) for the war in Libya, but when it comes to pensioners, we are given a cold shoulder.  The government are using pensioners, retirement pension to save monies, knowing that we have no muscle to change this!

[mis sally]

The budget was what was expected but the rise in personal allowance to £8015 from 2012 will be a help .I personally cant understand all the fuss regarding the flat rate state pension of £140, by the time it comes in it will be on a level with todays pensions that are topped up with pension credit, a gain of £8 still not enough to survive and pay ones rent and council tax..

So future pensioners who have no other provision or private pension  will still need means tested housing benefits, just as todays retirees do.. £140 may sound good to someone who is not eligible for the full state pension but it will still be based on contributions somehow according to George Osborne..

[caminito]

Makes me feel like Oliver Twist ..... more gruel please Mr Osborne !

[Chrisjay]

I had said in previous posts that the £8 was useless and by the time it comes in (if ever) someone will have changed their minds and 'we will not be able to afford it'.

The housing benefit has been a fiasco as the 'capping' does not exist at least not outside of London and although the changes were not retrospective 'they' sneak in the 'annual review' which means every year the HB claim starts again so within 12 months everyone will be on the new system.
Once again pensioners hardest hit as they have few choices to improve their incomes where at least people who can work have the option of getting a job or moving.
For pensioners even moving is beyond most as they physically can't do it every six months or so.

[caminito]

I read that all HG are changing from April
From April 2011 - all new LHA rates will be reduced to lower levels based on the 30th Percentile of market rents.
They were 50th  Percentile of market rents.
If you have an existing benefit claim then it will not change to the lower rate for 9 months,

[Chrisjay]

I hate to tell you but it changed last April on the Annual review basis as I know people affected.  And the existing benefits are changing now as my friends in Great Yarmouth are affected from next month not nine months from now.

So basically single people getting £120 now will get £80 big diffence to make up in a week out of a pension

[barnell]

Hello Mis Sally.  I stand to be corrected, but I think you will find that there will be no increase in personal allowances for pensioners over 65 years of age.  Mr Osborne has decided in his wisdom that these pensioner allowances are high enough, and therefore to rub salt in the wound, there is absolutely nothing for pensioners over 65 in this budget.  Inflation is running at 5.5% but pensioners have to grin and bear it!  Like I said before, pensioners are the scapegoats,which this government thinks they can cast to one side knowing that pensioners have no muscle to use, apart from the ballot box, which will be 5 years away.  It is about time pensioners had a unified voice to force this government to take notice of them.  We should all write to the national press and also to our local MPs asking for a debate in Parliament to remedy these injustices.

[mis sally]

Hi Barnell

yes i agree with you . I have a sneaky feeling that this government is trying to equalize the tax free allowances for under 65s and over 65s till we reach the promised £10000  , does anyone else think this

[bromers]

banell,          Men over 65 allowances have gone £450 but was pre-budget so if you have not yet recieved your tax code for 2011/2012 you may not know about it.

[bromers]

Sorry missed out the up in last post, it's all this sun going to my head.

[ddbalmoral]

The £140 pension that is promised for the future - but not for us.  What about how they stole our SERPs from us - reducing it year on year - and now they say we won't be entitled to the new increased pension.  It is much better to sort out a decent pension payment for people who have never contributed than reward those who have paid in all their lives.  I just feel incensed about this.

[Chrisjay]

I agree it is earmarked for the 'next' generation which by my reckoning means 2020 and in 2020 £140 will equate to even less than we are getting now.

As always we might be incensed but we do nothing and I always wondered what happened to my serps 

[avalonmpk2]

You should have seen ed balls-up on Jeff Randell to-night - pathetic . . .

[Chrisjay]

I did and I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face