Scrap free bus pass and TV licence for pensioners to promote "intergenerational fairness", peers say

Free bus passes, TV licences and winter fuel for pensioners should be scrapped, in a bid to promote ‘intergenerational fairness’, peers say.

The House of Lords Committee on Intergenerational Fairness and Provision today published a report calling on the Government to take measures to deliver a fairer society by supporting younger people in the housing and employment market, and deliver better in-work training to prepare the country over the next 100 years.

The report entitled, ‘Tackling intergenerational unfairness’ found that the relationship between older and younger generations is being failed because British youth are not properly supported with rewarding jobs and adequate housing.

Meanwhile it says that governments have failed to plan properly for the needs of a larger older population.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/25/scrap-free-bus-pass-tv-licence-pensioners-promote-intergenerational/

no, they should NOT scrap them, however they SHOULD be "means tested" so that those who need them, get them.

and in anycase the TV licence should be abolished altogether.......

"The House of Louts and layabouts"...

Way past time that Britain scrapped it's unelected "House of Lardarses", and entered the 21st century  --  and elected a much more democratic Senate-style Upper House..

All that those ludocrously-titled "peers" seem to be doing these days is protecting their fellow perverts, paedo's and whitecollar crim's, while feathering their own nests.

I wonder how many young people are found dead from malnutrition and cold in bad winters.
I agree means testing is the only fair way.

Wolfie, your so right ! MP's ridiculous "perks" on top of their over the top wages. Paying £300 or more to "Lords" to kip in their seats ! The whole fucking lot of the wasters in both houses need a big dose of reality !

Let the Lords live on £168:60 a week for a year in a 'normal' property with no recourse to savings or assets that they undoubtably have.

to you, wolf. It's clear the House of Lords has no meaningful role.

Heard some twat talking about this on radio earlier... he was saying that old people shouldn't be getting things free that are paid for by young people who have suffering from the costs of living/housing rising and who are having to put up with lower standards of living...


But when I say that is mass immigration that is pushing up costs of living and holding down wages and resulting in lower standards of living for younger people... some people think it is wrong for me to dare say this...!?

Young people had their schooling paid for by "old people" though, so that's a stupid argument.

By far the most simple solution would be to remove the right to a free bus pass and TV licence from pensioners who are in the higher rate category for Income Tax purposes.

In the UK, the 40 per cent higher rate isn't actually very high from an income point of view, but it does at least reflect an ability to achieve certain living standards regarded as not being achievable by those on a 20 per cent rate.

And before anyone asks, yep...that would mean me losing my free bus pass and free tele licence...but at least I can claim to give far, far more of my state and occupational incomes to deserving charitable causes each year than I would achieve from a free bus trip to Tesco or the right to watch some of the rubbish screened by our Lefty dominated so-called independent state broadcasting authority!

The amazing thing here is how did the old farts manage to stay awake (and sober) long enough to manage to publish any report?

They can't scrap the free bus pass - I've been waiting years for that.

Raggamuffin wrote:They can't scrap the free bus pass - I've been waiting years for that.

Yeah. Great. The only thing is that all the bloody bus services have fallen victim to the "savage cuts."

And Brexit, of course..........

I think they should scrap the TV license and keep the benefits for pensioners, and look at the problems faced by younger people as a separate issue entirely.

One of the biggest blows - to women pensioners at least - was extending the retirement age.  It caught many on the hop, and all the other changes just pale into insignificance.

But hey ho, needs must, the  % of older people is increasing fast and the pot of money is finite, the treasury has to balance its books. Even the current perks will go, eventually, one by one. That's life.

Shame tho, that the people who will be administering these harsh measures -the MP's and their banking cronies - are themselves very well protected against the vagaries of harsh economics, they look after their own.

"...Poland's statutory pension age has been restored. The retirement age has been brought back to 65 years of age, for men and 60 years, of age, for women. The previous government had introduced a phased increase of the retirement age to 67 years by 2020 for men and by 2040 for women..."


Poland's govt is the Law and Justice party (PiS)...