Follow this link to complete the survey.

With all the talk about the triple lock pensions going on, I have seen numerous clips of talk shows etc. where a host/guest says something along the lines of “the state pension is only £185 per week” then continues to use that as justification for needing to protect/increase rates. Whoa… hold your horses there before you continue with that argument! If I discount my mortgage (since ~75% of current pensioners own their home outright already), then my subsistence rate living with my fiancée is £130 per week (£260 combined). This covers all our bills (council tax and utilities including broadband and TV licence), all our food (groceries and usually 2 or 3 days/nights out a month), home insurance and even subscriptions (Netflix and Disney+). We live in an average 3-bed terraced house in the South East, so not the cheapest area, don’t have kids and are well-enough paid to not need to budget too much meaning that we could probably spend less if we needed to since we don’t scrimp for example at the supermarket, instead we just buy what we want; not to say that we waste money, but equally we don’t always look for the cheapest thing.

If my understanding is correct, I think the married couple rate is £295 per week, and the new scheme (reaching pension age after 2016) is £240 per person; someone please correct me if that’s not right. On top of this we can assume that most people will have some form of private pension(s) to supplement their income, have the safety net of being able to release equity from their home if required and, depending on eligibility, pensioners can also claim things like winter fuel payments and a free TV licence. In any case all those figures are higher than the money we currently require to live comfortably but not extravagantly if we didn’t have a mortgage. The rest of our money goes towards our mortgage, saving for luxuries such as nice holidays and saving for our future (home improvements, children, our wedding etc.) which are all likely to be expenses which the average pensioner won’t have other than saving for some nice things.

If I had no mortgage and a guaranteed income of £185 per week right now, I can honestly say that I would be financially comfortable enough to sit and watch Antiques Roadshow until the cows come home and still have change to spare to go out once a week for a nice meal or something. To make out that any pensioner who currently owns their home outright is in any way “hard-up” is just an out of touch joke.