Which Benefits Would You Cut?

[hc4361]

The Daily Mail has asked. I'm very glad I'm not a decision maker as I wouldn't have a clue where to start.
I do think that state pensions should be taken out of the equation altogether, though.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3136020/Which-benefits-cut-Cameron-Osborne-extra-12billion.html

[EDDIE51]

State Pension is now classed as a 'Benefit' which never used to be the case as you have to pay into it for 35 years to get it. I think it should be taken out of the 'Benefit' category altogether. at least the 'earned' part of it should not be a 'Benefit' it is just getting back what you put into it. I worked for years paying extra into my state pension fund as 'earnings related supplement' now getting my own cash back is classed as a 'benefit'. It is just like calling a private pension a benefit!

[youngmafbog]

// The computers know who gets it so it should be quick and easy,//

Dont program with today's modern computers then? Changes, even if easy are generally not quick and they are not cheap. Cut corners and your system goes out of service - ask RBS.

[janbee]

Child benefit, with immediate effect. If you can't feed 'em , don't breed 'em !

[youngmafbog]

Eddie, there is simply not enough money to pay for pensions. Anyone under 55, and maybe a little older, is unlikely to get one.

Clearly it has been classed as a benefit so it can be removed, or means tested.

[hc4361]

Take the state pension away and it will simply be called something else for those who rely on it.

[Retrochic]

I think its disgraceful calling a pension a benefit. When you have paid in all your life then feel as if you are in receipt of social benefits. People who have paid into a pension through NI contributions should get more than those who have been workshy all their lives.

[Svejk]

Some people go skiing with the child benefit money. The argument with a lot of these things is, 'I've paid in so I'm entitled to take out'. Extraordinary way of thinking, imo.

[mikey4444]

Eddie...I think it is only called a "benefit" because the same Government Dept, that deals with all the other real benefits, takes care of the Old Age pension as well. If the wording were to be changed, it would still cost the same. And the cost will be going up in the future, as we all living so much longer than we did only a few years ago.

But there are ways to cut the value of the Old Age pension, by the back door so to speak, by changing the way that annual increases are calculated.

We should keep a close eye for that over the next 5 years !

[EDDIE51]

^ agree with Retro. I have worked and paid into the state pension since I was 17 I can finally claim it in January , now I am threatened with them taking my own earnings away.

[Ann]

Before they start cutting any benefits they should be giving serious consideration to the handing out of foreign aid - some is desperately needed in disasters and I totally agree with that, but most is just given away to corrupt governments of rich countries.

[sandyRoe]

Charitable status for posh schools.

[mikey4444]

sandy....now you are talking ! If the rich can afford to send their kids to places like Eton, why should the tax payer subsidise the school ?

[youngmafbog]

//Charitable status for posh schools.//

Do you mean posh schools or do you mean all independent ones? or are you simply on the left wing bandwagon?

I doubt charitable status is counted as a benefit anyway, and where do you stop if you go that route?

[Retrochic]

posh schools and religious schools should not have charitable status,they should pay tax like everyone else.

[hc4361]

Ann, foreign aid is a teeny tiny proportion of government spending and there is far more to it than simply handing money out.

"And there is a commercial angle to the aid we give, as it is often delivered via partner companies that profit as a result.
In 2011-12, the Department for International Development (DFID) awarded 135 contracts to 58 contractors, worth almost £500m.
Beneficiaries included big-name firms such as PwC, Mott MacDonald and Adam Smith International.
And DFID's Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund (FRICH) has seen £1.9m in grants given to UK businesses including the supermarkets Waitrose and Sainsbury's to help get more African produce on to shop shelves.
So from the developing world's perspective, aid can sometimes seem like a way of cementing the established relationships between the rich 'global north' and the poor 'global south' - with a transfer of cash from the former to the latter, but within power structures that favour the former."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31928078

[hc4361]

Parents who send their children to independent schools are not taking advantage of state funded education, which can only be a good thing.

[sandyRoe]

Harrow, Winchester, Eton, and the like, hardly need the ordinary, hard-working, taxpayer to support them.

[sandyRoe]

It could be humiliating for the pupils to know their education depended on charity.
When I was at school there were different coloured dinner tickets for the boys on free dinners. I went hungry rather than admit to having a grey dinner ticket.

[Retrochic]

sandy -the Tax payers are not supporting Independent Schools -its the Schools that pay no Tax on their Income from School Fees and other benefits a charity would get (rates,vat etc.)