MY 25P PAY RISE FOR TURNING 80
IT’S my 80th birthday next month and even the Department for Work and Pensions has acknowledged the fact. The chaps in Whitehall have sent me notification that I will be getting a pay rise. To mark this milestone I will be receiving an increase of 25p per week. This is classed as an “age addition”. Which is nice.
But it leaves me wondering how to spend this unexpected windfall.I mean, what can you get for 25p? Should I fritter it, week by week? Save it up to a £1 and have a splurge?Or put it into a saving account and watch my £16 per annum slowly grow?
I’m grateful for any increase but why 25p?
I checked with Whitehall (well, their website) and found this explanation:“Pensioners aged 80 and over receive an addition of 25 pence to their state pension.
“The age addition was introduced in 1971, in recognition of the special claims of very elderly people who on the whole need help rather more than others. It has never been uprated, with successive Governments either arguing that greater priority should be given to protecting the level of the basic benefits, or choosing to target additional resources at older pensioners by other means, for example, through means-tested benefits or lump sum payments, such as the Winter Fuel Payment.”
So there we have it. The 25p is an anomaly no one has thought to increase or cancel.
I also checked an inflation calculator and found that 25p in 1971 was worth around £2 50. That’s almost enough for a pint.