Latest news with #SilverVoices
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Labour refuses to shield state pension from ‘retirement tax'
Labour has rejected a petition calling for the personal allowance to be raised to protect state pensioners from income tax. The Treasury said the tax-free personal allowance would not be raised for retirees – a move campaigners have called a 'betrayal' of the elderly. Millions of Britain's poorest retirees face being dragged into the tax net when the state pension breaches the £12,570 tax-free threshold in a move which has been dubbed the 'retirement tax'. Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, has committed to keeping income tax thresholds frozen until at least 2028, a policy introduced under the Tories. Last week she refused to rule out extending the freeze beyond this date. However, the new 'full' state pension of £11,973 a year, paid to 12.9 million people aged 66 and over, is set to breach as early as next year. The triple lock ensures that the state pension rises each April by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5pc. If average earnings continue to grow at their current rate of 5.2pc, then the state pension will exceed the tax-free allowance for the first time next year. This will mean pensioners – many of whom rely solely on the state pension for their income – will be taxed at 20pc on the portion above £12,570. In March, the Silver Voices campaign group submitted a petition with 125,000 signatures to Number 10 and the Chancellor calling on the Government to lift the personal allowance threshold for pensioners and to commit to raising it in line with future triple lock rises. However, the Treasury last week rejected the idea of 'exempting the state pension and other benefits' from income tax as doing so would 'add complexity to the tax system'. Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said the 'inadequate' response had 'stuck two fingers up' at pensioners who felt 'insulted and betrayed' by the Government. He added: 'The British state pension isn't a king's ransom and it's very difficult to survive on at the moment, even without getting taxed on it. 'Keeping thresholds frozen is a backhanded way of taxing the state pension and triple lock, which is often people's only source of income. 'Extending the freeze to 2030 will make the situation even worse.' The threshold freeze helped to push an extra 2.5 million pensioners into the tax net under the Tories' 14 years in power. Ahead of the general election last year, the Conservatives proposed raising the personal allowance in line with the triple lock for pensioners to shield them from a 'retirement tax'. Analysis by wealth manager Quilter suggests that an extra one million low-income pensioners would be taxed on their state pension if Labour were to extend the freeze until 2030. 'Giving with one hand and taking with the other' Baroness Altmann, a former Tory pensions minister, said: 'Inevitably, if the state pension keeps going up and the threshold doesn't, more and more pensioners are going to pass the threshold with their state pension income alone. 'Those with no other income are increasingly going to find that the Government is giving with one hand and taking with the other. There's likely to be a lot of upset. 'Also, if you only have the state pension, an increase is only going to take you slightly over the threshold by a few pounds, the cost of administering it could well be more than the amount of tax they will collect.' It comes as the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock said the Party is 'willing to explore' a new wealth tax of 2pc on assets over £10m. In its response to the campaign, a Treasury spokesman said: 'Exempting the state pension and other benefits from income tax would add complexity to the tax system and those paying higher rates of tax would receive the greatest benefit. 'Individuals earning above the higher rate threshold would benefit more than those with incomes below, and those earning below the personal allowance would not benefit at all. 'It would also be expensive at a time when the Government has inherited a very challenging set of fiscal circumstances.'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Forcing rich pensioners to pay back winter fuel allowance would be tax ‘nightmare', Reeves warned
Questions have been raised over Rachel Reeves' winter fuel U-turn after it emerged the government plans to reinstate the payments for all pensioners before attempting to claw it back from millions through higher taxes. The chancellor is expected to set out Labour's plans to reverse the controversial policy change at Wednesday's spending review, but fresh questions have been raised over how the government will distribute the payments. Reports suggest Ms Reeves will from this autumn restore the grants, worth up to £300, to the 10 million pensioners who had lost out. But only those in the bottom half of average incomes will keep the payments, with the top half of earners forced to repay the grant through higher tax bills over the course of the year. One option for the threshold at which pensioners are eligible is average household disposable income, currently around £37,000, The Times reported. Such a plan would resemble George Osborne's high income child benefit charge, which sees 1 per cent of total child benefit received taxed for every £100 earned over £60,000. It means that, over whatever threshold Ms Reeves sets for the payments, an amount will be clawed back from those on higher incomes. The plans could cost around £700 million, with the chancellor vowing to set out her plans to pay for the change at her autumn Budget. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said the plans 'would be an administrative nightmare and would be likely to draw in many more pensioners into the tax system'. He told The Independent: 'The most cost effective solution is to restore the universal benefit and maybe fiddle around with the higher tax threshold in due course to target 'the millionaires'.' Mr Reed accused the government of 'casting around for ways to show it has not made a complete U-turn while gaining the political credit for doing so'. It comes after pensions minister Torsten Bell said there is no prospect of the winter fuel allowance being restored universally. He said: 'The principle I think most people, 95 per cent of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.' Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested in one of its first acts after taking office. Speaking in Manchester on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said: 'I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances, and that involved a number of difficult decisions around welfare, taxation and also public spending, including the decision to means-test winter fuel payments so only the poorest pensioners, those on pension credit, got it. 'But we have now put our public finances on a firmer footing. The economy is in a better shape, but we have also listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means-test. 'So we will be making changes to that. They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we'll announce the details of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.' The Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions have been asked to comment.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Health Secretary to unveil 'death of the doctor's letter' in digital first switch to help slash NHS postage bills
Ministers will today announce the death of the doctor's letter in a bid to slash NHS postage bills. Health Secretary Wes Streeting will unveil plans to switch to a 'digital first' system, with almost all patient communications made via the NHS app. The move, agreed as part of next week's spending review, will mean most patients will no longer receive letters about appointments, check-ups and screening dates. People unable to use the app will be able to continue receiving a postal service, but only as a 'last resort'. The Department of Health said the move would lead to the NHS sending out 50 million fewer letters a year, saving £200 million on stamps and envelopes. However, critics warned it could disadvantage millions of older people who struggle with the latest technology. Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group, said the move would accelerate the trend towards digital communications that risks turning some older people into 'second class citizens' and could result in vulnerable patients missing appointments. Last night Mr Streeting insisted that 'modernising' communications would 'put power in the hands of patients'. 'People are living increasingly busy lives,' he said, 'and want to access information about their health at the touch of a button, rather than wait weeks for letters that often arrive too late. 'The NHS still spends hundreds of millions of pounds on stamps, printing, and envelopes. By modernising the health service, we can free up huge amounts of funding to reinvest in the frontline.' Health sources said Royal Mail had become so unreliable in parts of the country that some letters didn't arrive until after appointment dates or else people didn't open their post in time. Mr Reed told the Mail: 'Many older people do not have smartphones and many of those that do only use them for making calls. There are still a lot of people who do not know how to use apps or who physically cannot navigate them on a tiny screen. 'If you try to force them to use an app then people will miss messages and vital appointments.' Caroline Abrahams, director of Age Concern, said technology brought 'many potential benefits', but added: 'This is a big risk because millions [of older people] do not use computers at all, or only do so for limited purposes. 'If the NHS app is to become the default, then this major change must be accompanied by many more opportunities to help people of all ages to go online if they wish to do so.'
Daily Mail
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour's 'winter fuel death tax': Tens of thousands of grieving families could be hounded to pick up their dead elderly relative's HMRC bill
The families of dead pensioners could be hounded by the taxman under Labour's winter fuel payments U-turn, it emerged yesterday. Downing Street indicated a 'winter fuel death tax' could be introduced after announcing that millions of pensioners stripped of the subsidy will get it back from this winter. It is understood that the model currently most favoured for restoring the subsidy is to pay it to all pensioners but claw the money back through higher tax bills from the wealthiest. This is because means-testing the payments is viewed as too complex. However, there are concerns about the time period of at least six months between receiving the subsidy and it being declared or clawed back at the end of the tax year. It is estimated that tens of thousands of elderly people who die within that period could be affected, potentially forcing their grieving relatives to pick up the HMRC bill after submitting their loved-one's posthumous tax return. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, branded ministers 'heartless' for even considering the model. He said: 'This winter fuel death tax would be absolutely pathetic.' Asked about a report in the Guardian, which first reported that thousands of relatives face being hounded by HMRC, the Prime Minister's official spokesman refused to rule it out. He said: 'We will set out the details on the policy in due course... HMRC have already got a well-established process in place for assessing someone's tax affairs after they've passed away via probate.' He added: 'The work is under way. I'm not going to give a running commentary on that work.'
The Independent
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Forcing rich pensioners to pay back winter fuel allowance would be tax ‘nightmare', Reeves warned
Questions have been raised over Rachel Reeves ' winter fuel U-turn after it emerged the government plans to reinstate the payments for all pensioners before attempting to claw it back from millions through higher taxes. The chancellor is expected to set out Labour 's plans to reverse the controversial policy change at Wednesday's spending review, but fresh questions have been raised over how the government will distribute the payments. Reports suggest Ms Reeves will from this autumn restore the grants, worth up to £300, to the 10 million pensioners who had lost out. But only those in the bottom half of average incomes will keep the payments, with the top half of earners forced to repay the grant through higher tax bills over the course of the year. One option for the threshold at which pensioners are eligible is average household disposable income, currently around £37,000, The Times reported. Such a plan would resemble George Osborne's high income child benefit charge, which sees 1 per cent of total child benefit received taxed for every £100 earned over £60,000. It means that, over whatever threshold Ms Reeves sets for the payments, an amount will be clawed back from those on higher incomes. The plans could cost around £700 million, with the chancellor vowing to set out her plans to pay for the change at her autumn Budget. Dennis Reed, of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said the plans 'would be an administrative nightmare and would be likely to draw in many more pensioners into the tax system'. He told The Independent: 'The most cost effective solution is to restore the universal benefit and maybe fiddle around with the higher tax threshold in due course to target 'the millionaires'.' Mr Reed accused the government of 'casting around for ways to show it has not made a complete U-turn while gaining the political credit for doing so'. It comes after pensions minister Torsten Bell said there is no prospect of the winter fuel allowance being restored universally. He said: 'The principle I think most people, 95 per cent of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we're not going to be continuing with that.' Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested in one of its first acts after taking office. Speaking in Manchester on Wednesday, Ms Reeves said: 'I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances, and that involved a number of difficult decisions around welfare, taxation and also public spending, including the decision to means-test winter fuel payments so only the poorest pensioners, those on pension credit, got it. 'But we have now put our public finances on a firmer footing. The economy is in a better shape, but we have also listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means-test. 'So we will be making changes to that. They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we'll announce the details of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.'
