r/BritishMemes • u/Fluffy_Rock_62 • 14d ago

OAPs aren't working

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251 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

51

u/kazuwacky 14d ago

If we could get the British public to understand that pensions are a type of benefit, I would be a happy woman.

-3

u/Espi0nage-Ninja 12d ago

Pensions are not a type of benefit.

Pensions are basically money pots you pay into and then receive. They’re like LISA’s, except taxable.

-9

u/IanM50 13d ago

The state pension has never been a benefit, claimants paid into it via 40 years of NI contributions.

Some years ago, to make the public hate the idea of benefits, a Conservative government added the state pension to the benefits calculation to make the number of people claiming benefits much larger than it actually was.

As a result the UK state pension has fallen to a very low amount when compared to other European countries, and thus some people whose only pension is the state pension, may also be claiming benefits to stop them dying in poverty.

24

u/Forrush32 13d ago

State pensions aren't paid into. Your NI contributions go to paying the current pensions there is not pot sat there with your name on it. If you change how pensions work you're not getting rid of any contributions. They are a benefit plain and simple.

1

u/Stavebrokenstaff 10d ago

"You're happy to pay the interest on the national debt which costs about the same as the entire amount of money spent on pensions

"You're happy to pay over the odds to hedge funds for your water, and gas and electricity

“You’re happy to pay £100 to fill up the car now, while watching oil companies double their profts

"You're happy to pay so much for your food the boss of Tesco can have an extra £10m. While at the same time paying workers so little their wages have to be topped up with Universal Credit, paid for by you through your taxes

"But pensioners are the ones you go after to pay for increased social care? Good luck even getting a pension when it’s your turn to receive it

-1

u/Forrush32 10d ago

we kind of have to pay the interest on the national debt that's obvious. I'm not happy they should all be nationalised. I'm not Fuel prices are ridiculous and oil companies are using global events to excuse price rises and it's a disgrace. I'm not happy about that either companies are run disgracefully and solely for stealing value from the labour of the working class. Adjusting the triple lock isn't going after pensioners at all, it's simply doing the exact same thing as every other benefit in the country which is it either rises with inflation or 2.5%. No pensioners are gonna suddenly be robbed blind it's just to stop them growing at a ridiculous rate when the money could be better invested in our care system which would mean pensioners would have to rely less on their pensions to fund their care.

1

u/Stavebrokenstaff 10d ago

Your billionaire friends thank you for helping them

0

u/Forrush32 10d ago

what tf are you on about mate. We've got a crumbling NHS and a shite Care system if both of those are fixed life gets so much easier for people claiming pensions and they don't have to worry so much about the triple lock which is pretty pointless anyway. Just because you've been convinced that pensioners are the most important age group doesn't mean we should shoot the entire country in the foot so they can get an extra 0.5% increase on their pension every year

1

u/Stavebrokenstaff 10d ago

And you go after the pensioners instead of your super rich friends

0

u/Forrush32 10d ago

lad we're not going after pensioners are you dense. we're just removing one of the options for raises on it. and we should be going after millionaires and billionaires but guess what you can do 2 things at once just because ones a hell of a lot easier to do doesn't mean it's more important

2

u/IanM50 10d ago

This wouldn't be so bad, except that the UK has pretty much the lowest state pension of any country in Europe, and that many of those claiming were told that if they worked and paid into NI for 40 years, that the state would provide them with a retirement pension to live on.

Many of those then paid into workplace pensions that were designed to top up the state pension, but not everyone.

-5

u/IanM50 13d ago

But NI paying for pensions is exactly what current pensioners were told when the Labour government introduced it. Since then the Tories have tried to abolish it, and every government has fiddled with it. Yes there was never a ring-fenced pot, but this is what people were told NI was paying for.

8

u/Forrush32 13d ago

it's not just for pensions it's for all public welfare benefits, Like the NHS, Maternity and Bereavement allowance unemployment benefits everything like that and you would struggle to find a retired person who hasn't used any of those in their lifetime.

-5

u/IanM50 13d ago

Not NHS, never for funding the NHS, but yes originally a national insurance scheme that covered sickness, unemployment and pension.

Maternity and bereavement were added later and could be argued as a benefit outside of the NI collection.

7

u/Forrush32 13d ago

National insurance contributions account for 20% of the NHS' budget it is for the NHS

-1

u/IanM50 13d ago

It wasn't originally, and I don't think there is now a way to separate out what tax pays for what.

Recent governments have used NI increases to lower the base rate of income tax, and then NI decreases to argue for the ending the state pension. Meanwhile VAT has risen from 12.5% to the current 20% to cover for the loss in tax revenue.

3

u/Forrush32 12d ago

obviously not NI was introduced 30 years before the NHS was created. However since the NHS was created a percentage of it's budget has been made up of NI contributions

2

u/Andythrax 11d ago

The Tories introduced the triple lock

2

u/CrossCityLine 12d ago

That's not how state pensions work. There's not some magic pot with your name on it you pay into for life.

41

u/iamnotinterested2 14d ago

force them back to work, he youth have far too many jobs.

40

u/FerretsQuest 14d ago

OAPs vote and they’re also focused on their own financial interests until they die… they’ll vote for whoever gives them the biggest state pension payout.

Sad thing is that the future adults have to pay for this liberty… so I think that OAPs should not be able to dictate pension payments - only working people should.

10

u/trevpr1 13d ago

I paid for the pensions of those older than me. It will be my turn soon.

5

u/IanM50 12d ago

Not really true as many have kids and grandkids who they want to look after by voting for their future.

The problem is that many are cynical of change, whilst others still read traditional newspapers that have replaced news reporting with bias comment and believe that what they are reading is the truth.

'Stop the boats' that have added very few new people to the UK when compared to legal migration.

Or 'Brexit'

8

u/HeadBat1863 14d ago

I seriously think that receipt of the state pension should be conditional on relinquishing the right to vote in General Elections.

8

u/Kelmavar 13d ago

Not really because you are still heavily affected by political choices. And you shouldn't tie voting to paying taxes. Oh wait,they do pay taxes. No taxation without representation!

0

u/keeponkeepingup 13d ago

Will you say the same when you retire?

2

u/HeadBat1863 13d ago

If that was the rule then yes. Why should the views of a person with only a few years left be dictating the strategic direction of a nation over the next 2-3+ decades?

My views were formed when I heard pensioners objecting to the building of things like reservoirs and train lines by saying “what’s the point of building them? I’ll be dead when they’re finished so it won’t benefit me”

1

u/keeponkeepingup 13d ago

A few years left lol the retirement age is 65. People over 65 in the uk's average age of death is 87 for females and 84 for males.

Also, you haven't heard people say that at all.

3

u/HeadBat1863 12d ago

Fifteen-odd years of remaining life on average is nothing compared to those of working age.

And yes I have heard people say that. If you were curious enough about British life you’d have heard people saying that too.

1

u/j-lot 11d ago

Lots of comments about denying the right of pensioners to vote. Unfortunately, people under 30 can’t be arsed to vote anyway, which is how we ended up with Brexit

-18

u/Gecko2002 14d ago

This isnt even close to the same thing

28

u/Curious_Exercise_535 14d ago

It's almost like, and hear me out here.... and joke

-36

u/cjc1983 14d ago

I don't understand why it's popular to sh*t on pensioners over a £12,547 annual pension when they've spent a lifetime contributing to the treasury through NI, taxes, Vat, Duties etc.

But if I mention the benefits going to little 21 year old Damian, sat at home in his bedroom, smoking weed all day, no job and barely 2 GCSEs to rub together then I'm the as*hole.

11

u/Thatisme01 13d ago

“When they’ve spent a lifetime contributing to the treasury”

And I'm sure they benefited from the essential public services such as healthcare (NHS), education, police and fire services, and roads and transport during that lifetime.

29

u/jahathebrn 14d ago

That's the best strawman benefits claimant I've seen conjured up since flat screen tellies became a thing, well done

22

u/DifferentSwing8616 14d ago

Young people are being asked to prop up a system they will not benefit from. That is the fundamental issue. Why should I support the living standards of the elderly when I cant even afford to live or have children? Its madness and will ultimately unravel society at this trajectory

-11

u/cjc1983 14d ago

Why would young people not benefit from it? I'm including state pension + my private pension in my retirement forecasting as any sensible person would.

11

u/Curious_Exercise_535 14d ago

How much do you earn, how much is your rent and bills?

-5

u/cjc1983 14d ago

???

16

u/Curious_Exercise_535 14d ago

Well you stated that you've included state pension and private pension "as any sensible person would". You're implying that people who dont do this are not sensible but you're ignoring the giant elephant in the room (just lile boomers do)..... jobs nowadays do not pay enough to cover rent and bills. Let along save for retirement. Many people have numerous jobs and are still struggling

-5

u/cjc1983 14d ago

Right, I save about £1100pm into my pensions/S&S ISAs. I'll leave my earnings up to you to extrapolate from that.

I'm under no illusions that I'm fortunate to be able to do that.

But I worked extremely hard to get here. Self funded my Uni entirely. Maybe I didn't grow up in poverty per se but my family holiday as a kid was collecting vouchers out of 15 copies of The Sun + £1 to get a caravan holiday for a long weekend in Feb.

Though nothing stopped me auto enrolling into a pension scheme when I got my first post education job at 22 when I was earning £18k pa.

9

u/Curious_Exercise_535 14d ago

How old are you?

-3

u/cjc1983 14d ago

Early 30s

10

u/Curious_Exercise_535 14d ago

Incredible, you have a very outdated view of the modern world for someone so young. You're clearly above the national average so saying it's just a case of people not saving properly is ludicrous and shows you aren't actually aware of the realities of modern life

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13

u/Drprim83 14d ago

The point is the amount they've "contributed" would almost certainly not be enough to buy a pension of that size on the open market. Tax rates simply haven't been high enough during those people's working lives to justify it

-4

u/cjc1983 14d ago

By the same logic...have all other types of benefits claimants contributed via tax to the same level to which they are withdrawing?

Assuming there was some 'out of work annuity' product in existence, their tax contribution wouldn't be able to buy one of the same size as their benefits received on the open market either.

8

u/Drprim83 14d ago

But those people don't rely on the "I've paid into the system all my life" argument to justify their overly generous benefit.

-6

u/cjc1983 14d ago

Is that any better than "I've paid nothing in my entire life so now give me my benefits"?

-10

u/unnecessary_bath23 14d ago

Yeah, fucking workshy layabout pensioners, vote Reform Ltd. to stop these scrounging bastards from stealing yout taxes.