Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older
people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR officer
Without wanting to sound like a stuck record, this was another
bad week for pensioners' pockets - particularly
those of our poorest pensioners. Figures released this week by
insurance company, MetLife, shows that the retired population is
forking out, on average, 27% of its income on tax. Their combined
annual bill for tax is around £34billion.
For poorer pensioners, the figures are even bleaker. They are
losing around 33% of their household income on tax, which former
government pensions adviser, Dr Ros Altmann this week labeled
"scandalous". It's VAT and council tax in particular that she
singled out as really unfair, since they take a higher proportion
from those with the lowest income.
There will be some relief as Chancellor, George Osborne, this
week announced he will be freezing council tax next year in a move
to ease the financial strain on households. While this will, of
course, be welcome news to all, it does mean in real terms, that
those who live in more expensive areas, on the higher rate council
tax bands (in other words, probably wealthier citizens), will be
the ones making the greatest savings here.
Well, it really does seem like the government has had a "spot of
luck" recently. The Chancellor found £800m to implement this
decision. And just last week, Eric Pickles found £250m to help
English councils keep or restore weekly bin collections. We just
have to hope, that when the time comes, they'll be equally "lucky"
at finding the necessary funds to help implement some of Andrew
Dilnot's proposed recommendations for the overhaul of our care
system.
Still, one thing we know money can't buy is love. It's a good
job it just happens to be in the air at the moment, as this was a
good week for the Duchess of Alba who finally got
her man. The 85-year-old this week married civil servant, Alfonso
Diez, 24 years her junior. The pair first met 30 years ago but the
Duchess went on to marry someone else and it was only three years
ago that they "spontaneously fell into each others' arms."
The Duchess's heirs are, according to an article in The
Independent, furious about the relationship but the Duchess made it
perfectly clear that her "love life was off-limits to family
consultation." On emerging from her 15th-century Palacio
de las Dueñas in Seville as a newly-married woman, the Duchess
allegedly tossed her bouquet into the crowd before removing her
shoes to perform a sevillana dance. Good luck to the Duchess, who,
following her displays, seems to be a living embodiment of Mark
Twain's sentiment "Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've
never been hurt."
It's unclear how the pair reconnected, but it wouldn't be a
surprise to learn it was through the wonder of internet dating.
According to new research by Experian Hitwise this week, it's the
older generation that is really making the most of this modern
phenomenon. The number of over-55s using the internet to find
love has increased by 39% over the last three years. And not only
are the numbers of older people partaking on the up, they tend to
be more successful at it too. Industry experts believe their luck
with online love is down to the fact that their main focus has
moved away from marriage and children, so they are more likely to
base their decisions on shared interests rather than perceived
capability for parenthood.
