Old, alone and poor
Monday 27th September 2010, 2:57PM BST.
Over a quarter of OAPs get less than 60 per cent of average earnings
ELDERLY people living alone are three times more likely to be living on a low income than the average Islander, according to a report out today.
The Income Distribution Survey Report shows that the gap between rich and poor has stayed roughly the same over the last eight years but that the elderly are struggling financially, with over a quarter of pensioners getting less than 60 per cent of average earnings.
The latest figures show that after housing costs, 22 per cent of households were under the ‘relatively low income’ threshold – slightly less than the equivalent figure in 2002.
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So elderly retired people are more likely to be poor than working people, and this is news?
Similiarly people who go out in the rain are more likely to get wet than those who stay indoors.
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Here’s an open challenge Mr Gorst live for a week like the pensioners have to do, get the J.E.P. to monitor it so no cheating and let’s see you do it….that is if you haven’t given the dosh away. Charity begins at home and these pensioners built this island…we owe them.
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with the high rents, cost of living and rising expenses over the years , who can afford a private pension?
who has confidence in a pension plan, after the poor performance of some .
many low paid cannot afford it, so its just the state pension.
not all employers provide anything at all.
quite rotten realy, work harder some will say, some of us can not do anymore hours.
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1 Mulvie..great analogy and funny to boot ..but fair play Jersey is a hellish expensive place to be on a pension…we have disabled people .all getting older and Ian Gorst and co cutting down disability payments yet giving assorted Africans our money, failing entirely to understand the fundamental principle of charity beginning at home.The same man that we pay who abstains on Abortion issues and hides behind some religious belief… indefensible….he cuts back the disabled pay but offers no refund of his wages for reneging on the decisions we pay him to make. Imagine hiring a plumber who won’t touch pipes and water. do the job properly or get out.
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But there is enough money to pay immigrants to have babies they cannot afford … our government has got it’s priorities wrong
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This will never improve!
We live in an ageing society, so we can’t just increase financial help to pensioners because we’re in enough trouble as it is.
I sometimes think medical advancements have their disadvantages. I’d rather live a full life and die at 70. If we all done the same, we’d have far more enjoyable lives and we’d leave a better world for our kids too
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We owe them??? My fathers an old age pensioner and he was perfectly right to tell me as a kid that the world owes you nothing.
If people didnt work hard when they were young and able,they should not be crying into there tin of budget beans today.
He worked his butt off all his life and hasnt asked anyone for a cent to this day.
I rest my case.
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There is property portfolios left in trust and in the care of our dear states that was left with a request for the proceeds to go to the needy and vulnerable of this island so please explain why most of it is left to deteriorate and with no value
Disgusting it would be for those who left such helpful assets to help to see this, if a letter of wishes were acted upon properly if they were still alive those wishes would be carried out or I am sure they would sue….
These people have lived on this island before many of our other tenants jumped on a plane and came over to live..got residential qualifications.. never paid tax.. lived in our council house.. had illegitimate children which have benefits paid for the list is endless.. no this is not racist but in many countries this just would not happen especially where most of our freeloaders come from its disgusting..
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Why not stop paying / susidising (rent rebates etc) single Mum’s between £300 and £500 a week and re-allocate the pensioners !
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Vicki 8
Are you sure that most of Jersey’s freeloaders come from outside? Where did you get your information from?
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vicki(8) would love to see a list of what has been left to the island for the good of the people.( some would turn in their grave ,no doubt).
its now clear that it is mainly the interests of the rich are catered for, as they can earn far more than the ordinary worker and pay the same amount of social security .
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Vicki (8) we live in a multicutural world. Jersey wouldnt be half the island it is now without foreigners. there are plenty of locals that have got the morning boat and living abroad.
you also mention letter of wishes and if they were acted upon correctly. a letter of wishes is not a legally binding document and quite frankly not worth the paper they are written on.
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I find it sadly amusing how beaurocracy attempts to steer the way the public think.
Ian Gorst and his colleagues, have absolutely no idea how it must feel to struggle to pay for anything – be it to buy a loaf of bread or pay the rates bill!
If any OAP tries to get help from the SS they are faced with some juvenile who has absolutely no training, nor any idea what struggling may be all about!
Anyone seeking help from the SS are bombarded with irrelative personal questioning which they find both patronising and degrading – I suspect it has been designed that way in the hope of making them all ‘go away’!
Isn’t it time to wake up to the fact that ALL OAP’s are entitled to a decent standard of living – after all, most have paid many thousands of pounds into the SS throughout their working lives in the hope they can live a reasonably decent life in retirement.
It’s an absolute disgrace that any OAP should be made to suffer or pay the price for today’s political blunders!
Perhaps now is the time for the public to demand repayment of all SS contributions to the estates of those who have been unfortunate enough not to collect any return on their huge investment.
Perhaps now is also the time the public demand to know exactly how all current SS contributions are being allocated?
We are all heading in the same direction like it or not!!
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Has anyone really try to live like your neighbor,
or has anyone really try to give to their neighbors.
I find that there are those who need to understand the plight and the economic situation of your people. I am concern because I am from the USA and would like to know why people don’t enjoy in giving to the poor, the elderly and the homeless? Are you really that stone face when it comes to money or manybe it washes ashore daily, I don’t know!
Please learn to love your neighbors. Whoever it may be!!!!!!
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#7 Some may have worked perfectly hard and saved hard just for some greedy idiots to destroy their savings, something that they had little (if any) control over! I do agree that no-one is owed anything, but it’s also true that sometimes stuff is taken from people through no fault of their own. Also, the cost of living isn’t being determined by pensioners, it’s being determined by us right now, and it’s probably gone up a heck of a lot more than they could have remotely foreseen back when they were paying into their pensions. The pensioners themselves aren’t to blame for that.
#6 Totally agree, and it will probably be even worse for our generation! But a good few generations are going to have to take the hit, as encouraging more births is not a solution rather population stabilisation should be the plan.
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It’s nice to see that there are still some compassionate people around, like Mulvie Le Phew, in this Godforsaken consumerist hellhole.
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You wouldnt get to see any list as it is in trust.. not public records.. wouldnt mind having a look myself at what else there is ither than what I know of..
Yes I am sure most freeloaders are from outside of Jersey.. that is MOST not all.. most dont and havent if ever really paid much in taxes to accommodate what it costs for each each person.. schools.. hospitals.. police.. infrastructure..and I have lived in states accommodation myself when young.. (local family)
And yes Jersey would probably have less heroin addicts, robberies and foreign nationals in the social security department it wouldnt be half of what it is now.. would save us taxpayers a fortune.. no I am not rich.. I have worked all my life and I dont claim benefits or live in a states property..look after longer serving member of the island first.. and as for the rest if you cant afford to live here stop sponging off the pot that everyone else pays into!!!!!!!!!!
This is a forum.. all entitled to opinions and as for all you idiotic morons who expect hard working people who have paid their taxes and social security all their lives to be classed and second rates citizens and struggling why should they? our government is dishing out free money and flats to non locals..
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@17 Vicki
Concur with money being handed out. A couple of months back I was in the SS building in La Motte Street (ha ha ha, I’ve just re read that to myself – ah well, I’ll keep it in) whereby a lady whose accent was plainly not British was complaining that her monthly\weekly handout wasn’t as much as usual. Forgetting the reasons why, one has to ask why she was getting handouts in the first place?
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£72 million a year on ‘income’ support – ie paying people to produce babies to get housing and cash. That is why pensioners are not getting more money.
The result is the feral youth population we now have vandalizing buses, setting fire to cars, etc.
The UK is cutting welfare payments to those who
do not work and also cutting rent rebate
payments – this should be done in Jersey as well.
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