Every Thursday, David Harvey-Jones strolls down to his local bistro in Brittany for a three-course a la carte lunch and a glass of merlot with friends.
Last week, a plate of seven oysters, a large steak and a selection of miniature French desserts with an espresso came to a palatable €18 – or just over £15 – he says.
The 73-year-old moved to a rural village in the far North-West of France near Guingamp ten years ago and has never
Scores of pensioners have been left with no way of contacting the outside world as BT’s digital landline switchover continues to be besieged with problems.
Customers have been left with no phone access for days, lifesaving alarms have been made redundant and numbers and area codes have been changed without permission – leaving many vulnerable people with nowhere to turn.
BT is currently switching all landline phones to digital that it serves in Britain’s 29 million homes, making them internet
Older Britons could “be winners” if predicted changes to wage rises take place which could see state pension payments rise more than expected next year.
According to The Times, economists are forecasting that earnings growth may soon overtake the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation.
This would have massive implications for the triple lock which uses either inflation, average earnings, or 2.5 percent as the rate increase to state pensions; whichever is highest.
As it stands, the latest CPI
The full new state pension is worth £10,600; however, experts calculate a rise by almost £1,000 a year from next April.
As inflation figure sits at 7.9 percent, those receiving state pension may see a significant boost next year.
The state pension triple lock means that pensions rise each year by two percent, the rate of inflation, or the rise of average earnings – whatever is highest at the time.
The pension rate for the 2024-25 financial year will be
State pensioners with back pain could qualify for a DWP benefit offering up to £407 a month at its highest rate, equating to £4,884 a year.
Attendance Allowance is a benefit administered by the Department for Work and Pensions which helps with extra costs if someone has a disability severe enough that they need someone to help look after them.
The DWP benefit has broad eligibility criteria and a number of common health conditions can lead to a person qualifying
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners are facing a “mortgage bombshell” over soaring interest rates, it was warned.
Around 450,000 over 65s are still paying off the cost of their homes into retirement, according to official figures.
Half of those have savings and investments of under £3,000 to rely on with some having nothing set aside at all.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Older people are at the sharp end of the Tory cost of living crisis due
Nearly half of low-income pensioners in England have struggled to keep up with their broadband bill in the last six months, according to new figures.
Research from the older people’s charity Independent Age reveals the struggles that pensioners and those on low incomes have been facing when it comes to staying online.
One in five said they found their internet bill a ‘constant struggle’ and 28 per cent said they had struggled from time to time.
Independent Age says the
Those who have reached state pension age – currently 66 – can get council tax support to cover 100 percent of their bill.
How much council tax support someone gets depends on things like their income, who else lives with them and how much they have in savings.
People may get more council tax support if they receive a disability or carer’s benefit.
If they receive the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit they may even get their Council Tax
Sir Andrew Dilnot launched a scathing attack on potential moves by Rishi Sunak’s Government to push back a policy aimed at preventing pensioners from selling their homes to pay “catastrophic care costs”. Sir Andrew, who as chair of the Dilnot Commission on the Funding of Care and Support masterminded a cap on care costs 12 years ago, said he would be “astonished and very, very disgusted” if Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announces a
Grandmother Janet Kane has no choice but to get up and go to work two days a week.
Soaring bills mean that the 68-year-old is forced to keep her job as a receptionist to make ends meet.
Janet, from Gosport in Hampshire, is one of the record number of people continuing to work into later life — or boomeranging back into jobs after retiring. And she is exhausted.
Back to work? The state pension, currently £9,627 a year, will be
