I am all for using the metric to improve the Pension Credit as that is rigorously means tested and is there to help the poorest pensioners. I would like the thresholds increased slightly to cover those right at the bottom who do not currently qualify, but who do live in poverty. Completely agree that now is the time to do it, ideally scrap it entirely for pensioners who are in the 40% bracket (about three quarters of a million pensioners), and let it rise at the same percentage as minimum wage for those outside of pension credit.

Yep.

But worth remembering their are several reasons this has been rejected in the past.

1st those on the border of entitlement to benifits are still in difficulties.

2nd this is an age group where a high % refuse or do not have the ability to claim. Refuse os basically pride. As there has been a long history of judging people claiming benifits.

Unable is often due to mental and physical disability that hits with age. And in increased over the last 14 years às many of the people who helped prevent this nonlonger exist.

"Not much additional cost" has to be really low in aggregate. The allowance is 200 quid a year per household. If someone phones twice to check on it that's pretty much blown the saving.

It's obviously mostly about perception, and the principle behind the message they want to send is reasonable, but targeting pensioners at the borderline of the cutoff is hardly effective redistributive justice.

So from this graph we can say that with all the government help they receive pensioners are about as poor as working people without kids. And that's bad. Pensioners should be poorer than working people