I watched the vote this evening… phew… let’s see what comes next… 
how quickly will all the websites be updated… 
Hear, hear, John. Despite that fact that 31 Jan has passed without the sky falling in, the doom-mongering continues. What a shame that good news can’t be greeted for what it is.
5 Likes
Hi Stella
I was just reading on the uk Gouv. Website about The New and old Pensions. Old basic rate 129.20 new 168.60 a week. As i was born in 1952 am not eligable for the New pension. I had no idea about these changes.
If you were born in 1952 aren’t you already drawing your pension? Or did you defer it?
OH was born in ‘52 and what with SERPs payments and so on he gets more than the new basic pension.
Any few people really noticed changes which is why those born after ‘55 are furious and having their pension put back and having to work longer for it.
Is that what it is - good news?
Because it’s looking like Johnson’s first forays into negotiating are looking like more of this
That is UK being unprepared and high on rhetoric.
1 Like
Hi Jane
Yes i have my pension but only became aware of the changes today when i was realy looking up other info on the Gouv. Site. For those who only have the basic pension not getting the new increased pension is a drag. Over a year its quite a considerable sum. However i appreciate that i got mine at a decent age !
Anne
Frankly, Anne … the rises I have been “pleased” about are the annual increases which are somewhat linked to cost of living… not talking about actual changes to the Pension…
It’s not quite as straightforward as that Anne. The gov bought in the new State pension to save money, not spend more, so the calculation is more complicated than just getting more if born after ‘53. For example for the new pension you need more qualifying years to get the maximum. And the pension for those on the old scheme is a mix of NI years, SERPs, additional state pension and so on so is actually often more than the new basic amount. As I said, OH gets more than new state pension even tho’ his is based on old regime.
Yes, being born in the1940s, I get the extra ‘bits’ that we’ve paid into over the years (names of the different ‘schemes’ always escape me)-if you want to know what your updated pension will be, phone Newcastle-my letter went out on 7th Feb-but I was told it can take 28days in the post! I can’t imagine how anyone manages on the basic pension-even the new one.
The Tories have promised to reinstate the vote for those out of UK for more than fifteen years, but I have not seen any progress towards this.
I do not trust a Government made up of Brexiteers who seem to have a wholly unjustified attitude to anything across the Channel.
2 Likes
Indeed almost phobic.
We do not plan any involvement in the unified patent system, despite a clear benefit for doing so apparently because the ECJ will be asked to advise on aspects of EU law - not decide cases or anything, just act as experts in EU law.
Every time that I think they can’t outdo themselves they find new ways to do so.
2 Likes
And of course they want to establish a high tech economy but business will have to take care of protecting its inventions itself.
an old thread but I thought this article from the Express might be useful…
Seems there will be a significant rise April 2020 but wait for the Conservatives to break another promise and kill off the triple lock 
State Pension info
Not putting any of my money on the triple lock staying. Although maybe since their incompetence has killed off so many old people they can afford to keep it going a while longer.
2 Likes
I have never understood the financial sense of the triple lock. It make sense to me that the pension rises with inflation to ensure that you can continue to buy food etc. I don’t understand the need for it to be linked to wages.
IIRC, it was a pledge by the (then) coalition Government led by DC that the Conservatives would neveragain allow pensioners to be dealt a blow on pension uplift such as was experienced by pensioners under Labour and Gordon Brown in particular where the uplift was measured in pence (less than a pound, I recall).
But Doris doesn’t rate David so chances are he’ll spin something or other to wriggle out of it and make it look like it’s someone else’s fault.
I think the final triple lock deal had heavy LibDem influence.
Erm - define ‘significant’. The fancy name of ‘triple lock’ doesn’t make 2 1/2% of not very much any more than… not very much. The meagre Uk state pension needs a whole lot more than annual pittance rises to reach the dizzying heights of other EU pension entitlements. People who have been in the enviable position in their working lives to afford contributions to a private, or even a company pension, have no idea how the rest of us live.
Hand to mouth, with nothing left at the end of the month - certainly not enough to put in a pension pot. So all we have on retirement is what the government of the day decides is enough - not enough for MPs to live on of course, but what they consider ‘enough for the plebs’. I say again - 2 1/2 percent of not very much …is not very much…and the 25p that GB laughingly proposed was subsequently appeased by the introduction of the Winter Fuel Payment…but of course that was taken away from UK pensioners in France - so that part of our annual pension entitlement was stolen. Next time someone suggests that UK pensioners are mollycoddled, or overpaid, just remember that.
1 Like
I think the idea was that pensioners income should not continually slip behind that of the employed. But there is still a great difference between those who own a home and have savings and those who have to rent and live hand to mouth.
In future years, when those renting now continue to have to pay rent from their meagre pensions it will be awful. There will be far more impovererished pensioners. I fear my son may end up one of them.
Who pays for social care in France?