The Tories are using conference
season to push through a change in a crucial benefit, Pension Credit, which they have renamed Support for Mortgage
Interest (SMI); I suspect hoping it will attract little attention at such a
time. This could mean a cut to income of over £200 over month.
Pension Credit is a top-up for those who are in receipt of State Pension but who have not paid in enough National Insurance to qualify for the full amount. Mostly women and mainly because they have stayed at home to look after family or took part-time or seasonal work as 'pin money' as was the norm when the 'war babies' became mothers. A certain amount of Pension Credit is held back each week under the heading 'housing costs' which could mean anything depending on whether a home owner or renting, either, in what was referred to as 'Council Housing' or from a private landlord. SMI has been created by the government in order to associate it specifically with mortgage interest in the hope they'll get away with making cuts under this guise. To reiterate, SMI was never an identified benefit or included in Pension Credit and housing costs were never referred to under that heading plus there was never any indication that Pension Credit would be cut unless personal circumstances changed.
Pension Credit is a top-up for those who are in receipt of State Pension but who have not paid in enough National Insurance to qualify for the full amount. Mostly women and mainly because they have stayed at home to look after family or took part-time or seasonal work as 'pin money' as was the norm when the 'war babies' became mothers. A certain amount of Pension Credit is held back each week under the heading 'housing costs' which could mean anything depending on whether a home owner or renting, either, in what was referred to as 'Council Housing' or from a private landlord. SMI has been created by the government in order to associate it specifically with mortgage interest in the hope they'll get away with making cuts under this guise. To reiterate, SMI was never an identified benefit or included in Pension Credit and housing costs were never referred to under that heading plus there was never any indication that Pension Credit would be cut unless personal circumstances changed.
The poorest people struggling just to exist from one week to the next are an
anathema to this plutocratic regime.
Theresa May has decided that people for whom this benefit is essential will
be offered a loan instead. Coming into force in April
2018 the loan will be from a company of the government's own
choosing, SERCO, who have already had their own problems and has to be repaid with interest with your house held as security and a restriction on selling without government permission.
So now the worst-off won't just be fretting about paying their mortgage interest, they have to find the income to pay interest on the loan set-up to pay that interest. They can put off this 'loan' and interest until they sell their homes. What use is this? After several years of this arrangement they will be left with even less equity, especially those on an 'Interest Only' mortgage, which many now are; how will they then buy another property? The other option is to sell their homes earlier than planned but as the provision of suitable 'social' housing to move into is non-existent, where will they go?
What a way to spend your final years. How someone is expected to cope with these changes with only six months notice is beyond me. All this whilst May continues to award Winter Fuel Allowance to all pensioners regardless of status.
So now the worst-off won't just be fretting about paying their mortgage interest, they have to find the income to pay interest on the loan set-up to pay that interest. They can put off this 'loan' and interest until they sell their homes. What use is this? After several years of this arrangement they will be left with even less equity, especially those on an 'Interest Only' mortgage, which many now are; how will they then buy another property? The other option is to sell their homes earlier than planned but as the provision of suitable 'social' housing to move into is non-existent, where will they go?
What a way to spend your final years. How someone is expected to cope with these changes with only six months notice is beyond me. All this whilst May continues to award Winter Fuel Allowance to all pensioners regardless of status.
What has happened to our moral compass?
