Rant Retired people; work for pensions

[sunrise]

I am not sure how it works outside of the UK but here in the UK once you retire as well as the work based pension you also receive a state pension, the idea being that you pay money in via tax and when you retire you are given monthly payments based upon these contributions.

Lord Birchard has said:

Retired people should be encouraged to do community work such as caring for the "very old" or face losing some of their pension, a peer has suggested.

Lord Bichard, a former benefits chief, said "imaginative" ideas were needed to meet the cost of an ageing society.

And although such a move might be controversial, it would stop older people being a "burden on the state".

This suggestion angers me, the fact that people work all of their lives, paying a lot of money via their taxes that in the past they have lost because of banks who go into debt (that we are expected to help bail out) are now being told "I know you have worked all of your lives but potentially this will not matter, if you don't carry on doing good things you may loose it"

He goes onto say:

"We are now prepared to say to people who are not looking for work, if you don't look for work you don't get benefits, so if you are old and you are not contributing in some way or another maybe there is some penalty attached to that."

This is two VERY different things, people who are unprepared to work I agree should not not benefit entirely but to place a penalty on these people to me is disgraceful and Lord Bichard should be ashamed of himself considering how much the government screws up our economy and very rarely face the consequences.

Full story

 

[Hiei]

So, when does someone go from being old and retired to being "very old?" I'm with you, this just seems wrong. Now, could they be doing volunteer work and helping out some way? Maybe, but they shouldn't be forced to under penalty of losing some of their pension. What's the point of even having a pension in the first place if you still have to work after you retire to get it. Isn't that what's called a pay check?

 

[Hilander]

If you pay into a retirement all you life then get told you have to work to get it, that's screwed up. A lot of older people can't work, they aren't physically able and shouldn't be made to. I think if you are well off then maybe not give those people their retirement. Maybe some of the lords should get cut off.

 

[CaptainObvious]

This isn't surprising. This is what happens when governments tax the citizenry under the guise of "we're collecting this money for you for when you get old" and we rely this heavily on the government. This is bound to happen in the US at some point.

 

[Wade8813]

Yeah, the entire concept of mandatory government retirement plans (aka Social Security) bothers me.

We have a government that screws up almost everything it touches. I'm required by law to give them my money, they take some of my money to cover their costs (of collecting the money, managing the money, etc), then give my own money back to me.

Oh wait, and suddenly, we can't afford to do it either, so not only are you forced into this bad plan, we're going to change the rules so you get screwed even MORE!