Is the pension increase enough to cover rising costs?!
Pensions set to increase next week
British pensioners will find out next week exactly how much their pension will be increased in 2022/23 tax year, reports the Express.
The pension is said to be increased by at least 2.5 percent next year. However, the exact increase amount will rely on the inflation rate which will be announced on October 20.
The previous system would have seen the pensions paid according to average earnings in the country, which surged in the three months to July 2021. But the government opted not to use that due to the strain it may create on the exchequer.
Elderly may have to live without heating to afford food
Winter is rapidly approaching, and the UK’s energy crisis is far from over. The energy price surge may just mean that the country’s most vulnerable – over 60s – may need to live without indoor heating to afford food.
The elderly are easily affected by the colder weather, yet they might be put off turning on the heat this winter due to sky high energy bills, reports the Daily Mail.
Age UK warns that this may be detrimental to old people’s health, who already suffer a high death rate in winters. The charity thus implores the government to extend Winter Fuel Payments to 5.5m households.
Pensioners face the possibility of a new tax raise!
Last month, PM Boris Johnson announced that pensioners will pay National Insurance for the first time ever. If that was not enough, they may also be facing a whopping increase in the tax from 1.25% to 3.15%.
According to Express, the NI levy is said to rise even further due to health and social care pressures.
The new health and social care levy on pensioners will come into force from April 2023, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that the levy will have risen quite a bit by then.
It thus seems that the pension increase, which is less than expected anyway, will not be able to contend with the new levy imposing and the hiking bill prices.
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