The Economy

Cameron and the coalition made it means tested in 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child...m 7 January 2013,would receive nothing at all.

 

Either that, or more commonly you opt out of receiving it to save having to just reimburse the whole amount that's been paid to you over the year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child...m 7 January 2013,would receive nothing at all.

 

They’ve been doing that ever since they won that election. It’s their ‘go to’ nothing’s our fault claim

 

I get that it boils down to semantics, but that’s what we’re thrown by consecutive Tory Govts.

 

Even as a pensioner I agree with most of that. We both receive State Pensions and at least one one of us has a decent occupational Pension on top of that, the house and car are paid for and there are no outstanding loans, our daughter is independant with a good job and a lot better off than we were at her age. We can absorb the increasing costs even if the Pension rise was restricted to the average wage increase.
As you say, in contrast, a working family with a mortgage or rent, kids to feed and cloth, soaring food, energy and child care costs are in a totally different place. No-one, I repeat no-one who works full time, and especially a household where both work full time should have to rely on handouts, food banks or Govt Welfare to simply make ends meet. That is down to generations of Govts siding with business ( the myth of trickle down is nothing new) That said you do need a strong economy to provide strong Welfare, health and Education systems and ensure the money stays in the country and fairly distributed ..(as if! )
Where I slightly disagree with you, is why pensions are being treated differently from benefits. Most pensioners have no other way of increasing their fixed income. Yes, you can argue job mobility (or lack of) leaves a working family in the same position but many do have some flexibility to take on extra work, reduce expenditure (albeit easier said than done given the huge hike in prices). Benefits rise but so should the wages (for those working). Two full time 'living wages' in the same house is much more than a single person on a state pension only especially as the 37k or so combìned gross attracts two tax allowances in effect making it better that a single wage earner on the same gross income. Obviously for a single person things are much harder.

Welfare and Pension increases should be targeted at those who need it most but the problem is, when that has been done, the sheer bureaucracy and inefficiency of process made it so expensive that much of the money allocated never reached the recipients. As pensioners abroad we are experiencing the same inflationary pressures and some are struggling since things like help for energy cosst etc are only paid to UK resident pensioners and not those living abroad. Our GPL heating costs have gone from 1500 euros per annum last year to over 2500 this year and combined with the falling pound we have taken a large hit in our annual receipts at a time when inflation is hitting 8-9% . As I said, we are lucky as we have enough margin to manage but quite a few are struggling.

 

My point exactly, These are things that should happen in the national interest however, the party in government would never do it, regardless of which parry it is. They think by working together it makes them look weak.